Modification of broadcast media items based on feedback from streaming media player

ABSTRACT

A streaming media player receives a media stream from a first broadcast chain. Streaming performance feedback originating from the streaming media player is received at a processing system including an analytics module. The feedback includes identifying information sufficient to verify that a user of the media player is a valid user. In response to verifying that the feedback is from a valid user, identifying information is stripped out, and the feedback is transmitted to a media proposal server. The media proposal server determines, based on the streaming feedback, that media items scheduled for broadcast on a second, different broadcast chain, are to be replaced. Replacement media items, which have been identified, based at least in part, on feedback from the first broadcast chain, are transmitted to the second broadcast chain via a media distribution server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present U.S. Utility patent application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.14/057,664, entitled “AUTOMATED ADVERTISEMENT SYSTEM”, filed Oct. 18,2013, scheduled to issue as U.S. Pat. No. 9,953,339 on Apr. 24, 2018,which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.12/318,778, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING AND MANAGING MEDIAADVERTISING PROPOSALS,” filed Jan. 8, 2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,666,807 on Mar. 4, 2017, which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/006,357, entitled “SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR CREATING A RADIO ADVERTISING SELLING TOOL,” filed Jan. 8,2008, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility patent applicationfor all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure is related generally to advertisement systems,and more particularly to advertisement systems providing automatedpurchase and management of advertisements.

Prior to the systems and methods described herein, the media sellingprocess and media selling tools lacked key features to harness the newtechnologies and new products. Media advertising was sold from a staticquantity and priced on very basic input parameters. Available systemswere disconnected and non-extensible and little if any workflow wasavailable. Information about the effectiveness of advertisements was notimmediately available. Systems and tools did not have intelligence tolearn process changes as business began to shift into new eras and didnot provide even a manual work around. The sellers, managers and backoffice processors had no choice but to rely on brute force manualefforts.

SUMMARY

Embodiments described herein overcome the disadvantages of the prior artand provide a number of advantages and new features. These advantagesand others are provided by a computerized method for managing a mediaadvertising proposal from inception to completion of an order with oneor more media outlets. Embodiments of the method include receiving acustomer request for placement of advertising in one or more mediaoutlets, creating a media advertising proposal, that includes scheduleof advertising for the requested placement, based on user inputs into amedia proposal tool, storing the media advertising proposal in adatabase connected to the media proposal tool, accessing one or moreexternal applications to integrate information and data into the mediaadvertising proposal, assigning a grade to the media advertisingproposal, entering the media advertising proposal into a computerizedworkflow in the media proposal tool for review and approval, and if themedia advertising proposal is approved, injecting the media advertisingproposal as an order into a traffic and billing system.

Some embodiments include a method that includes receiving an onlineorder to purchase advertising as specified in an advertising proposalthat specifies placement of advertisements in one or more media outlets.The advertisements are distributed to the appropriate media outlets andstations, which air the advertisement. Performance feedback related toan effectiveness of the advertisements can be received contemporaneouslywith airing of the at least one advertisement, so that the next time anadvertisement is scheduled to air, an updated advertisement can be airedin its place. The evaluation of an advertisement's performance,obtaining or generating an updated/replacement advertisement, and anydeterminations about the media outlets and stations on which the updatedadvertisement is to be placed, can be made according to the mediaadvertising proposal, without intervention by the purchaser of theadvertising proposal.

The performance feedback can be aggregated at different levels, forexample at a media outlet or market level, or at a station or individualuser level. This allows different updated advertisements to be deliveredto and aired by different media outlets or stations, even though thosesame media outlets and stations originally aired the same advertisement.The performance feedback can be obtained from various sources, includinga media station, a media outlet, a social media service, a cloud-basedmedia delivery service, or a media player being used by a mediaconsumer. The performance feedback can be explicitly provided by endusers, or implied by end user interactions with media items.

Reports related to the performance feedback; original advertisements;modified, updated, or substituted advertisements; effectiveness ofadvertising updates, and the like can be generated and provided topurchasers of the advertising proposal, or other interested parties. Thereports can be generated and provided periodically, on-demand by thepurchaser, or in response to trigger events such as failure of anadvertisement to meet proposal-specified performance thresholds,generation of updated ad copy, or the like.

Various methods described herein can be implemented in an end-to-endsales network that includes a traffic and billing system, a mediadistribution server, and a media proposal server.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description will refer to the following drawings, whereinlike numerals refer to like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system forcreating and managing advertising proposals from inception tocompletion.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating architecture of a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to 1 completion.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method forcreating and managing advertising proposals from inception tocompletion.

FIGS. 4A and 4B is a screen shot of an exemplary graphical userinterface (GUI) for a user to interact with a software implementation ofan embodiment of system for creating and managing advertising proposalsfrom inception to completion.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an exemplary task details GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser search GUI in asoftware implementation of an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser search results GUI ina software implementation of an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 8 is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser details GUI, showinga credit tab, in a software implementation of an embodiment of systemfor creating and managing advertising proposals from inception tocompletion.

FIG. 9A is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser details, showing astrategic account management tab, in a software implementation of anembodiment of system for creating managing advertising proposals frominception to completion.

FIG. 9B is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for addingan advertiser in an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating an advertiser record in a mediaproposal system database in an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIGS. 10B-10G are diagrams illustrating various relationships definedand implemented using an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 11A is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser search GUI, showinga parent/child tab, in a software implementation of an embodiment ofsystem for creating and managing advertising proposals from inception tocompletion.

FIG. 11B is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser search results GUI,showing a parent/child tab, in a software implementation of anembodiment of system for creating and managing advertising proposalsfrom inception to completion.

FIG. 11C is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser assignment searchGUI is a screen shot of an exemplary advertiser search GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 11D is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method forrequesting assignment of an existing advertiser account.

FIG. 12 is a screen show of an exemplary Dun and Bradstreet companymatching GUI in a software implementation of an embodiment of system forcreating and managing advertising proposals from inception tocompletion.

FIG. 13A is a screen shot of an exemplary proposals GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 13B is a screen shot of an exemplary proposals GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 13C is a screen shot of an exemplary proposal schedule GUI in asoftware implementation of an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 13D is a screen shot of an exemplary proposal schedule GUI in asoftware implementation of an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 13E illustrates an excerpt of a printed sample proposal.

FIGS. 14A-B are screen shots of exemplary additional information GUIs ina software implementation of an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIGS. 14C-14G are screen shots of exemplary inventory progress bars in asoftware implementation of an embodiment of system for creating andmanaging advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 15 is a screen shot of an exemplary order details GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 15A illustrates a report format according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a media proposalsystem 10 reporting engine 300 in an embodiment of system for creatingand managing advertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 17 is a screen shot of an exemplary reports GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIGS. 17A-17G illustrate excerpts of various reports according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17H illustrates various roles and their relation to one another andthe workflow in the media proposal system 10, according to embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a screen shot of an exemplary roles GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 19 is a screen shot of an exemplary audit GUI in a softwareimplementation of an embodiment of system for creating and managingadvertising proposals from inception to completion.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method forgenerating advertising campaign proposals with cost freeze.

FIG. 21 is flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method forgenerating and managing advertising campaign proposals using feedbackfrom the traffic and billings system.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method forgenerating and managing advertising campaign proposals using feedbackfrom the traffic and billing system.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method forcreating a media proposal for multiple media outlets.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating an automated advertisementsystem according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method of automatically updatingadvertisements and generating reports according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein are various embodiments for creating and managing mediaadvertising proposals from inception to completion, including receivingperformance feedback and obtaining updated advertisements withoutrequiring purchaser intervention beyond the initial purchase order foran advertising proposal, and delivering performance reports.Media-advertising proposals (also referred to herein as media proposalsor simply proposals) are advertising placement schedules (which may bedefined based on various goals, restrictions and criteria for—schedulingthe advertisement airing) and costs for placing advertising on variousmedia outlets/sources (e.g., radio stations, television stations,internet sites, magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals,billboards, video billboards etc.). Various embodiments enable, e.g.advertising professionals, to create advertising proposals, includingadvertising campaign proposals, optimize proposals based on feedback andresults, mine and incorporate business intelligence data to createbetter proposals, utilize feedback and other data for more efficientadvertising placement, use input from multiple sources to createproposals, create proposals placing advertisements in multiple mediatypes and outlets, extend the proposals to mobile devices and otherwiseto enact real-time advertising placement transactions, uniquely andeffectively display availability data across multiple media types andschedules, and otherwise more efficiently place—advertising and utilizeadvertising capacity.

Embodiments described herein may be implemented as a media outletselling system-with advanced and unique features to learn, adapt andleverage new technological processes and products. Advantages includethe ability to provide media sellers, managers, and back officepersonnel a consistent view and process of all the products the mediaoutlet offers. This consistent view is the result of consistent data andprocesses that give top level executives rollup reporting. In addition,embodiments contain the ability to incorporate feedback as the dynamicsof scheduling and execution of advertisements occurs. Because of tightintegration with systems such as traffic and billing, yield management,audience delivery data, business intelligence data and other enterprisesystems, embodiments are able to react and adapt in near-real-time to aquickly changing landscape for media advertising. Another advantage isthe feedback looping and integration between all these systems enrichesthe goals and scenarios capabilities beyond prior art. Furthermore,receipt of performance feedback related to a particular advertisement,at or near a time when the advertisement is being aired (i.e. concurrentfeedback), allows rapid adaptation of advertisements in conformance witha purchased advertising proposal.

Various embodiments provide an advertising sales automation andadvertising customer relationship manager (CRM) tool, referred to hereinas the media proposal system 10 or tool. The media proposal system 10described herein may be implemented as a software application that runson the processor of a server accessed by various workstations and mobiledevices. Such application may be operated by users for a media outlet,an enterprise of media outlets or other organizations as would beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. The proposals referred toherein are proposals for placing advertising, or campaigns ofadvertising, in or on any of a variety of media (e.g., radio,television, internet, print, periodicals, billboards, video billboards,etc.). An embodiment of the media proposal system 10 is VIERO® Fusion.The media proposal system 10 is a CRM tool for expediting the workprocess for sales account executives in media advertising, e.g., radio,television, internet, newspaper advertising. Such account executives maywork, for example, for a radio advertising agency, radio station oradvertiser. Those having skill in the art will recognize that the“account executives” are not the only users that may use the mediaproposal tool. For example, sales managers having oversight of thevarious account executives may also be users of the media proposal tool,as may be business managers (who supervise sales managers and provide anadditional layer of review, traffic managers (who are responsible forinjecting orders into traffic and billing and provide yet anotheradditional layer of review) and others involved in the sales process.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the media proposal toolmay be used to track and manage advertisements for a number of differentmediums and media, such as, without limitation, satellite, terrestrialand Internet-based radio, print, television, billboards, videobillboards, etc. The media proposal tool allows an account executive tocreate an electronic media advertising proposal that reflectsup-to-the-minute inventories, demand, and reservation-reflectivepricing. The media proposal tool provides electronic review and approvalfrom proposal creation to maturity as a customer order. The mediaproposal tool allows an account executive to use business intelligenceinputs to prospect leads, manage contacts and maintain criticalhistorical information for sales accounts. Because all sales activitymay be tied to client records for easy reporting and personalizedselling, the media proposal tool allows an account executive to easilysee the entire sales cycle from the first contact to emails,appointments, proposals and orders (the “order history”). The mediaproposal tool may integrate with an email system such as MicrosoftExchange Server for Calendar, Contacts, Email, Tasks and Notes so as toutilize navigation and graphical user interface (GUI) layouts alreadyfamiliar to account executives.

The media proposal tool may also integrate and interact with other toolsand systems. For example, embodiments of the media proposal system 10described herein may integrate and interact with various enterprise andmedia management solutions, such as without limitation: VIERO® RevenueManagement Solution (RMS), a traffic and billing system, (embodiments ofwhich are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/419,492,entitled “System and Method for Scheduling Advertisements, which ishereby incorporated by reference (the “RMS application”); VIERO®BESTRATE Yield Management Solution, a yield management or pricingengine, (embodiments of which are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,386,492,and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/081,905, both entitled“Inventory and Revenue Maximization Method and System,” which are herebyincorporated by reference (the “BestRate applications”)); VIERO®transACT, a platform that provides just-in-time advertising andextensibility to internal and external partners, (embodiments of whichare described in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/064,665, entitled “System and Method for Integrated, AutomatedInventory Management and Advertisement and Delivery,” which is herebyincorporated by reference (the “transACT application”); AirWaves, agoals-based audience delivery system, (embodiments of which aredescribed in U.S. Provisional, 28 Patent Application Ser. No.61/064,916, entitled “Systems and Method for: Predicting and AchievingRequired Levels of Advertising,” which is hereby incorporated byreference (the “AirWaves application”); VIERO® Media Executive ReportingSolution (MERS); VIERO® Strategic Account Management; and electronicPublic Inspection File (e-PIF)), as well as various other toolsavailable to media companies and/or described below.

In an embodiment, the media proposal tool utilizes Microsoft.Net andclick-once technologies to enhance scalability, and provide an openstandards architecture that reliably integrates with other systems anddelivers multi-platform stability. Such platforms may include, forexample, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Window XP, Windows 2003 andvarious web browsers. Note that Microsoft .Net and these platforms 6 aremerely given as examples and are in no way meant to limit the mediaproposal tool or embodiments of the systems and methods describedherein.

With reference now to FIG. 1, shown is a diagram illustrating componentsof an embodiment of media proposal system 10 for creating and managingmedia advertising proposals. Those having skill in the art willappreciate that the media proposal tool may be provided through a tieredarchitecture. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, for example, a three-tieredarchitecture is shown. Media proposal system 10 includes a mediaproposal server 12, media proposal system database (DB) server 14, mediatraffic and billing DB server 16, and a plurality of workstations andsystem terminals 18. An account executive at a client computer (e.g.,work station 18) may access the media proposal tool hosted at anapplication server (e.g., media proposal server 12).

Media proposal server 12, which can include processing hardware used toimplement a software server, may be tasked with executing theapplication or business logic of the media proposal tool 10. Mediaproposal server 12, accordingly, may include standard server componentssuch as processor(s), memory, secondary storage devices (e.g., harddrives, flash drives, disk drives), input, display and output device.Media proposal server 12 may be implemented as a blade server and mayinclude a plurality of physical servers. As indicated herein, mediaproposal system 10 may be implemented as a software application, or acombination of software and hardware. Such a software application mayinclude instructions stored on memory and/or secondary storage devicesand executed by processor(s) of media proposal server 12. Such softwareapplication may, when executed, perform the methods, processes andvarious functions, and generate and display the various graphical userinterfaces of media proposal system 10 described and illustrated herein.Such methods, processes and functions may be implemented as modules ofsoftware application implementation of media proposal system 10, eitheras part of such software application or as independent components.

Media proposal server 12 may further rely on or include one or moredatabase servers for data access logic in interacting with a salesinformation database (e.g., media traffic and 33 billing DB server 16)and a media advertising proposal database (e.g., media proposal system10 DB server 14). The database servers and databases may be provided,for example, using Microsoft SQL Server 2008, wherein the databaseservers may execute queries, inserts, etc. with the databases using, forexample, SQL query language. Media advertising proposal database 14 maystore advertiser records, user records, media advertising proposals,reports, and other records accessed, used and created using mediaproposal system 10 as described herein. Additional database servers,e.g., corresponding various media management solutions described above,may be integrated with and connected to media proposal system 10 (e.g.,via an ISL server) in order to provide functionality described herein(see, e.g., description of FIG. 16 below). Those having skill in the artwill understand that a relational database management system offered byOracle or IBM, or some other suitable system, may just as easily beused. Also, those having skill in the art will appreciate that the mediaproposal system 10 disclosed herein may also be provided in a one- ortwo-tier or four-tiered architecture, or via such architecture, e.g.,multi-tiered Service Oriented Architecture, as may be best suited forthe environment and extensibility in which the media proposal tool isused. Those skilled in the art will understand that system 10 mayprovide clients and servers with various configurations. For example,system 10 may include a database server and an application server.

Those skilled in the art will understand that clients and servers mayinclude various components, such as processors, memory, secondarystorage devices such as hard-drives, DVD- and CD-ROM drives and memorysticks, input devices, output devices, displays, etc. The memory,secondary storage devices' and other computer readable media of servers,such as media proposal server 12, and workstations 18, may includeinstructions for execution by processors for performing the functions,providing the displays, windows, panes and other graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) described herein and executing the methods describedherein.

Those having skill in the art will also appreciate that an accountexecutive may, access and use media proposal tool via handheld or mobiledevice, such as the PDA or cell phone. Indeed, with continuing referenceto FIG. 1, media proposal system 10 is shown to include a media mobileextensions engine 20 and multiple mobile devices 22. Media mobileextensions engine 20 processes information, displays, user interfaces,etc., provided by media proposal system 10 (as described herein), fortransmission to and display on the mobile devices 22. For example,engine 20 will process information and GUIs from media proposal system10 for transmission to and display on Smartphones such as the iPhone, sothat mobile users can view and interact with that information. In thismanner, mobile devices 22 may act as mobile workstations providingmobile access and use of media proposal system 10. Media mobileextensions engine 20 may include rules engine 24 which enables users toset up rules for delivering content alerts from media proposal system 10to mobile devices 22.

Those skilled in the art will understand that media proposal tool 10 maybe implemented using Microsoft's One-Click technology and ASP.nettechnology and incorporate XML web services to enable applications tocommunicate and share data over the internet regardless of operatingsystem or programming language. Those skilled in the art will alsounderstand that media proposal system 10 may also be implemented usingother similar technologies.

With reference now to FIG. 2, shown is a diagram illustrating componentsof the software architecture of an embodiment of the media proposalsystem 10. As shown, media proposal system 10 may include user interfacelayer 32, platform layer 34, enterprise services bus layer 36, anddatabase platform layer 38.

The user interface layer 32 allows an account executive to access andinteract with the media proposal tool 10. The user interface may beaccessed through the client computer, such as a workstation or handheldor mobile device such as a PDA or cell phone. In an embodiment, the userinterface layer 32 provides a GUI for such interaction. Those havingskill in the art will understand that a media proposal GUI (see, e.g.,FIG. 4) may be provided via a thin client, smart client, traditionalclient application or other suitable application configuration, and thatan account executive may connect to the platform layer 34 via, e.g., aWeb services or .net remoting.

The platform layer 34 provides for coordination and integration oftransactions and services across various modules, such as accountmanagement, media station personnel user and roles, proposals, analytics(e.g., Broadcasting media analytics), transaction queue management, andother modules that may be advantageous for a sales automation andcustomer relationship management tool in the field of media advertising(e.g., radio, television, internet and print advertising). Mediaproposal system provides the business logic for sales automation andcustomer relationship management.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, the enterprise services bus layer 36may be used to integrate and allow communication between variousbusiness engines and applications. The enterprise services bus layer 36may route, split or combine messages between the platform layer 34 andthe various engines and applications, including third-partyapplications, as may be necessary. Those engines and applications mayinclude, for example, the above-mentioned media management solutions(e.g., VIERO® management solutions), security applications, creditreporting engine 300 s, human resources applications, and the like. Suchmessaging may be facilitated by, for example, Web Services or MicrosoftMessage Queuing (MSMQ) services. MSMQ is a component of the Windowsoperating system that allows cooperating applications to send andreceive messages to each other, even if the intended recipientapplication is not running or the computer on which the sender orrecipient application is running is disconnected from the network.Messages may be stored and forwarded by MSMQ until they reach thedestination queue. Later, when a recipient application runs, it canretrieve the messages from the queue. MSMQ decouples sender andrecipient applications so they do not need to run at the same time.Message Queuing provides built-in enhanced security, transactionsupport, and other features.

Those having skill in the art will understand that the applications andengines may be heterogeneous, vertical and may include those provided bythird parties, and legacy systems, as well as other applicationsparticular to the media proposal tool. For example, mail and messagingmay be provided via Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook.Credit reporting may be provided by Dun & Bradstreet and may use, forexample, the DUNS number. Human resources management may be providedthrough Oracle's PeopleSoft enterprise application. Security may beprovided through Microsoft's® Active Directory® directory service formanaging the identities and relationships that make up networkenvironments, e.g., allowing the system/network administrator to grantremote access to the media proposal system 10, or grant access to anyother application or business engine the account executive may need toaccess. To manage workflow, such as assigning a task to one of theirsales force, or to track business processes within the sale ofadvertising, users of media proposal system 10 may use Microsoft WindowsWorkflow Foundation (“WF”). Accordingly, the enterprise services buslayer may include adapters for legacy applications and be insensitive tothe various operating systems and programming languages of the variousapplications.

Workflow may be generally defined as a model to represent real work forfurther assessment, e.g., for describing a reliably repeatable sequenceof operations. More abstractly, a workflow is a pattern of activityenabled by a systematic organization of resources, defined roles andmass, energy and information flows, into a work process that can bedocumented and learned. Workflows are designed to achieve processingintents of some sort, such as physical transformation, serviceprovision, or information processing. With regards to media proposalsystem 10, the workflow is the pattern of activities or processesperformed by various users (e.g., account executives, sales managers,business managers and traffic managers) from the receipt of a requestfor advertising from a client, through the creation, acceptance (by theclient) and approval (by managers) of a proposal, the injection of theproposal as an order in a traffic and billing system, the airing orplacement of advertising in the order, the analysis of the advertisingperformance and the dynamic feedback and refining of the order describedherein.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, the enterprise services bus layer 36integrates the various applications and engines to provide mediaproposal system 10 with the various application services noted above.For example, an analytics service in media proposal system 10 may relyon a yield management system, such as the VIERO® BESTRATE yieldmanagement system, for making better daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly,and annual pricing decisions through proposal features such as ratingsinformation, up-to-date pricing and real time inventory, ensuringmaximum value for radio advertisements; a traffic and billing system,such as the VIERO® RMS traffic and billing engine, for enterprise-widesales revenue reporting; and a credit reporting application to providethe account executive the ability to look at customer credit history,information on outstanding accounts, and complete transaction history. Atransaction queue management service may rely on MSMQ services. Anaccounts management service in media proposal system 10 may rely on thehuman resources enterprise services application and services providedwith Microsoft Exchange server, such as Microsoft Outlook Email,Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes and other applications thatMicrosoft Exchange may support. Those skilled in the art will understandthat various services may be provided by various underlying engines andapplications provided through the enterprise services bus.

The database platform layer 38 may, as noted above, provide a relationaldatabase management system. In an embodiment, the database platform maybe provided through a Microsoft SQL Server 2008, allow storage,organization, retrieval and manipulation of sales and sales-relateddata.

With reference now to FIG. 3, shown is ‘a flowchart illustrating anembodiment of method 40 for managing an advertising proposal frominception to completion of an order with one or more media outlets.’Method 40 may start when a customer request for advertising time orplacement is received, block 42. For example, a manufacturer may requestthat a radio station air a 30-second commercial for a new product. Anaccount executive, or other user, may create a media proposal inresponse to the request. As described above, the media proposal will bea proposed campaign of advertising, with certain parameters (e.g., timeslots for advertising, dates for airing, locations for theadvertisement, etc.), goals and/or requirements. A campaign is typicallyfor placing (e.g., airing, displaying, posting, publishing, etc.) asingle advertisement on or in the media outlet. If the customer is a newcustomer, a new account may be created for that customer. If thecustomer has previously advertised with the radio station, the customeraccount and its records are accessed. In either case, a new entry forthe media proposal is created and information from the customer recordsis entered into the media proposal, block 44. The account executive maycreate the new account or view the customer records via a media proposalGQI (see below). Advertising parameters for the media proposal areentered into and received by media proposal system 10, block 46. Theaccount executive may enter the advertising parameters, such as thedates and times that the advertisement should run, how many times perday the advertisement should run, which stations and markets theadvertisement should run in, and the like, through the media proposalGUI.

Media proposal system 10 may then access external systems in order tointegrate information and data into the new advertising proposal, block48. For example, the account executive or other users may request acredit analysis from a credit reporting engine 300, block 50, requestand evaluate the availability of the date and time slots requested bythe customer using a traffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS),block 52, determine the pricing for the advertisement run using apricing or yield, management engine (e.g., VIERO® BESTRATE YieldManagement Solution), block 54, and evaluate the demographics and mediumof transmission using an audience delivery engine (e.g., block 56. Thetraffic and billing system may determine and display available timeslots through a media proposal GUI. Embodiments of the traffic andbilling system that may be used here are described in the RMSapplication. Embodiments of a pricing engine that may be used here aredescribed in the BestRate applications. The pricing engine calculatespricing based on various factors including without limitation demandbased components, product type, spot lengths, dayparts (e.g., periods orparts of a day when an advertisement is scheduled to be aired ordisplayed) and reservations weighting. Embodiments of an audiencedelivery engine that may be used here are described In the AirWavesapplication. The audience delivery engine uses customer goals andhistorical 6 performance to generate feedback to the pricing andscheduling engine to provide the best possible scenarios for campaignsuccess.

A grade is applied to the proposal, block 58. The grade may be appliedby the account executive or other user or automatically by mediaproposal system 10 based on various pre-set rules and factors. The gradeis generally an estimate of the likelihood of the proposal turning intoa customer order. The proposal is entered into workflow, block 60.Entering a proposal into the workflow routes the proposal to variouspeople and roles based on business rules set up for workflow purposes.For example, a new advertiser has a different routing than an existingadvertiser, an advertiser who is late in payment has a different routingthan advertisers that do not (e.g., need additional managerialapproval), etc. An exemplary workflow routing would be: (i) accountexecutive creates proposal; (ii) draft proposal is forwarded to customerfor acceptance; (iii) steps (i) and (ii) repeated until proposalaccepted; (iv) accepted proposal is forwarded to sales manager forapproval; (v) sales manager-approved proposal is forwarded to businessmanager for approval; (vi) business manager-approved proposal isforwarded to traffic manager for approval and insertion; (vii) returnproposal to account executive and repeat any of steps (iv)-(vi) (or(i)-(vi)), as applicable, until proposal approved or finally rejected;(viii) traffic manager inserts approved proposal into traffic andbilling system as order. After the proposal is entered into theworkflow, the account executive or other user may modify and update theproposal as negotiation continues with the customer. If the proposaldoes not turn into an order, the proposal may be stored for reportingpurposes and added to the history of the customer, block 62. If theproposal turns into an order, the order may be submitted to or injectedinto a traffic and billing system, e.g., the VIERO® RMS traffic andbilling engine, for execution and invoicing, block 64. Additional and/ordifferent process steps are described in connection with variousembodiments below.

Media proposal system 10 provides a GUI from which a user, typically anaccount executive, may create and compile quotations to send to radiostations, television stations, internet sites, or other media outlets,organize data involving the advertising process, send quotations andproposals to customers, and generate reports. Media proposal system 10provides customer relationship management for an advertiser or agencyaccount from the time the account executives receives a lead, and allowsthe account executive to create an e-proposal (media proposal) for agiven media outlet (e.g., radio station, television station, internetwebsite, internet radio, outdoor advertiser, newspaper, etc.) ormultiple media outlets (e.g., multiple radio stations, televisionstations, internet website, internet radio station, internet televisionstation, outdoor advertisers, newspapers, etc., and any combinationsthereof) that reflects up-to-the-minute inventory of advertisements anddemand-reflective pricing. After electronic review and approval of themedia proposal, media proposal system 10 may interact with otherexternal systems to maximize the potential revenue.

With reference now to FIGS. 4A and 4B, shown is an exemplary graphicaluser interface (“GUI”), account management screen/media proposal GUI 70for media proposal system 10. It is understood that the GUI shown ismerely an exemplary embodiment and that the various functions and menusoffered on the GUI shown (and other GUIs described herein) may bearranged in any variety of layouts, formats, etc. Media proposal GUI 70provides users access to various functions of media proposal system 10.The embodiments of media proposal GUI 70 shown provide eleven distinctfunctional areas that may be accessed from main menu 72 on the left-handside of media proposal GUI 70: Advertisers, Agencies, Approvals,Calendar, Contacts, Email, Notes, Proposal Generation, Reporting, Tasksand Security. A user, such as an account executive accesses one of thefunctional areas by selecting or clicking the corresponding main menu 72item. These areas can be limited by roles. For example, in anembodiment, an account executive (“AE”) role does not see the Securitytab and cannot access the Security functions. Media proposal GUI 70 mayalso include toolbar 74 that provides different tools or functionsrelated to the selected functional area that the user may select. Upperleft side 76 of media proposal GUI 70 may provide folder listings,search tools and/or different sub-functions related to the selectedfunctional area. Main work area 78 of media proposal GUI 70 typicallyincludes various panes, tabs, etc., as apparent from description below,that relate to selected functional area and selections made in upperleft side 76. As described below, main work area 78 may display relevantinformation, in sortable lists, enable user input, and otherwise enableuser to use media 33 proposal system as described herein. Otherfunctionality, apparent to one of skill in the art from the descriptionherein, may be provided from main menu 72, toolbar 74 or other aspectsand areas of media proposal GUI 70.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the media proposal GUI 70may also be the “base” GUI for the other GUIs, windows, and panesdescribed herein. For example, windows and panes described herein may bedisplayed on media proposal GUI 70 as indicated (e.g., in main work area78) or as separate GUI s. As used herein, a pane generally refers to a’portion of a GUI. However, none of the panes or windows described hereinshould be considered to be limited to the pane or window described. AnyGUI described herein may be, e.g., a window or a pane.

A user, such as an account executive, accesses media proposal system 10by launching media proposal GUI 70 and logging-in to media proposalsystem in a manner familiar to one of ordinary skill in the art. Anembodiment of media proposal system 10 displays media proposal GUI 70with proposal functionality when launched, as shown in FIG. 4A. Mediaproposal system 10 accesses appropriate information from media proposalsystem database 14 (and other databases, such as media traffic andbilling system database 16) and displays information that user mayaccess, based on log-in, on media proposal GUI 70. For proposalfunctionality, upper left side 76 displays a listing of various statusfolders for the user's proposals (My Proposals). Upper left side 76 alsoincludes a proposal search area for searching listed proposals. Mainwork area 78 displays listing of user's proposals corresponding toselected folder in upper left side 76 (in this case, all of the user'sproposals—My Proposals). Main work area 78 also displays tabbed panes,Proposal Schedule and Order Details. As described below, ProposalSchedule displays schedule of advertising for selected/highlightedproposal in listing of user's proposals. Order Details provides detailsof booked order corresponding to highlighted proposal.

FIG. 4B illustrates media proposal GUI 70 with advertiser functionalityselected on main menu 72. Upper left side 76 displays threesub-functions, e.g., indicated by icons and text, related advertiserfunctionality, advertiser details, request an advertiser and manageadvertiser assignment. Main work area 78 shows advertiser search,advertiser search results and advertiser details panes with varioustabs, corresponding to advertiser details sub-function. Since no searchhas been run, no search results and no advertiser details are displayed.

These various functional areas allow an account executive, or otheruser, to manage sales accounts. In an embodiment, the account manager(e.g., an account executive) may start the account management process atthe screen illustrated in FIG. 4. Management, as used herein, generallyis a term for making certain execution is performed on advertising/spotorders. Account management may generally include 6 creating andmaintaining up-to-date advertiser and agency (or representative firm)accounts, including all related information tasks as well as approvalsfor advertiser and agency assignments, establishment and proposals. Suchtasks may include managing agency and advertiser assignment requests,contacts, tasks, credit information, and correspondence. In thisembodiment, the primary account management modules comprise those forAdvertisers, Agencies, Approvals, and Proposals, each of which may beaccessed through the main menu in the media proposal GUI 70.

In an embodiment, Calendar, Contacts, Email, Notes and Tasks main menuitems may be particularly provided to support account management. Thosefunctionalities may also be accessed through the main menu on the mediaproposal GUI 70. The account executive may create and manage customeraccounts and then go through workflow for injection and booking oforders into the traffic and billing system. The account executive mayalso view various reports through the Reporting functionality, includingwithout limitation a Master Advertiser/Agency Report, an AdvertiserReport, an Agency Report, a Scheduled Revenue Summary Report, a PendingBusiness Report, and a 1-on-1 Report. With continuing reference to FIGS.4A and 4B, those skilled in the art will appreciate that toolbar 74 maybe provided across the top of the media proposal GUI 70 to displayfunctions that can be performed in the functional area. For example, anicon may be provided to allow the account executive to hide the detailsof an advertiser to show only general information. Likewise, an icon maybe provided to allow the account executive to show detailed informationfor a particular advertiser.

A person skilled in the art will recognize that toolbar 74 may becomprised of as many icons or functions as needed to make thefunctionality of the media proposal GUI 70 more user friendly. Otherfunctionalities that may be accessed via the toolbar are discussedherein. Those having skill in the art will recognize that various iconsmay be provided in the toolbar to provide various functionalities.

In an embodiment, account management may be accomplished by an accountexecutive or the sales manager of the account executive at localproperties (local media outlets). This functionality is not limited tolocal properties as it is available for regional, national andenterprise account executives (account executives for regional mediaoutlets, national media outlets, and enterprises owning multiple mediaoutlets). For example, a sales manager may be responsible for managing anumber of account executives within a given radio advertising market. Asales manager may assign certain advertisers to an account executive,and in that situation the account executive's advertiser list shouldaccurately reflect the accounts with which the account executive isworking. In an embodiment, the account executive may be responsible forproviding the sales manager with a list of advertisers with, which theaccount executive is working; and the sales manager may be grantedaccess rights in media proposal system 10 to update the database anddetails of advertisers that the account executive may have access to.Accordingly, when the account executive accesses media proposal system10, the account executive will be able to access an up-to-date list ofadvertisers, through various search tools. Those having skill in the artwill recognize that other functions and uses are apparent herein.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, before turning to theAdvertiser, Agency, Approval and Proposals functional areas in moredetail, the Calendar, Contacts, Email, Notes and Tasks main menu 72items for supporting account management are described in more detail.These functional areas may appear in all of the Advertisers, Agencies,Approvals or Proposals functional areas that may be entered through mainmenu 72 of account management screen 70. However, the Calendar,Contacts, Email, Notes and Tasks functions may provide a more narrowfunctionality in the particular functional area in which a user isworking, e.g., Advertisers, Agencies, Approvals or Proposals functionalarea. For example, as shown in media proposal GUI 10, the AdvertiserDetails pane provides a number of tabs, including tabs for Calendar,Contacts, Email, Notes and Tasks. If the user were to select theContacts tab in that pane, only the contacts for the particular selectedadvertiser will be displayed. However, if a user were to select Contactsdirectly from the main menu, all contacts in the sales database could besearched and accessed. The information under the Calendar, Email, Notesand Tasks tabs in the Advertiser Details pane and main menu may besimilarly specific or general depending on how a user accesses thosefunctions. Likewise, the same may hold true with respect to AgencyDetails if the Agency main menu item is selected. This is coined as“vertical and horizontal account visibility.”

Turning to the Calendar function, the calendar function allows a user toview the calendar with varying degrees of specificity. For example, auser may select from a drop-S down main menu and view calendarappointments by day, week, month, or work week. 6 A user may search forall appointments, specific advertiser appointments, specific agencyappointments, and appointments by user (scheduler). A user may create anew appointment, or edit or delete an existing appointment. Appointmentsrepresent activities tied to the account executive for businesspurposes. Personal information can be excluded and not visible to upperlevel roles. This is referred to as “Smart sectioning of activities”.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, a user may access theCalendar tab within the Advertisers Detail pane of media proposal GUI70. As noted above, the Advertiser Details pane may be accessed byclicking on the Advertisers item in the main menu on the left-hand sideof media proposal GUI 70. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatsimilar functionalities may be provided through the Agency Details paneas accessed by clicking on the Agencies item in the main menu on theleft-hand side of the account management screen.

In this embodiment, a user may view the appointments associated with aparticular advertiser, agency or representative firm. The Calendar tabmay provide details on the Subject of an event or activity, or Locationwhere activity or event will occur, the Start date and time of theactivity or event, the End date and time of the activity or event, theCategory or type of event or activity, and any Comments/Notes about theevent or activity.

As noted above, a user may create a new appointment by adding an eventor activity to the Calendar. The toolbar may provide an icon that theuser may click on to open a Calendar Details window.

A user may create a new appointment by entering data in the CalendarDetails window. In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 may requirecertain mandatory details, such as ‘without limitation the subject,account identification, start and end of an event or activity. In anembodiment, a user may not edit the account identification field if thecalendar item is created from the Advertiser Details or Agency Detailsfunctional areas. In an embodiment, a user may input the desired eventor activity topic in the Subject field. A user may input the desiredstarting and ending date and time information in the respective Startand End fields. A user may input the location of the event or activityin the Location field. A user may describe in the Show Time As field howtime will be used during the event or activity. A user may entercomments or notes about the event or activity in the Comments/Notesfield. The user may also include other individuals in the event oractivity by entering appropriate information In the Required/OptionalAttendees field. In an embodiment, a user may click on the magnifyingglass icon to access another window listing potential attendees, anddesignate such attendees as either required or optional. Such attendeesmay include other account executives, sales managers, business managers,advertisers, agencies and other ‘contacts, clients and users.

13 In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 may designate varioususers as individuals authorized to access and use media proposal system10. In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 may designate individualsfrom a contacts list, such as those that may appear in an electronicaddress book. Media proposal system 10 may provide various drop-downmain menus to accommodate such choices.

In an embodiment, the Calendar Details window may provide a Categoryfield that allows the user to choose the type of event or activity. Forexample, a user may categorize the type of event or activity as a salescall. Also, in an embodiment, the Calendar Details window may provide anAttachments field that allows the user to search for and attach anydocuments or files that may be associated with the event or activity.

Once all the event or activity information is entered in the fields fromthe Calendar Details pane, the user may click on another icon to savethe event or activity. The toolbar may also provide an icon to allow theuser to edit a Calendar event or activity. In an embodiment, thecalendar item may appear in a calendar provided through media proposalsystem 10 and may also appear in a third-party calendaring applicationthat the user may utilize, such as Microsoft Outlook. One feature ofmedia proposal system is that it instantiates a separate calendarinstance that includes only the user's media proposal system 10 calendaritems. Any personal or non-media proposal system calendar items are keptseparate.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, focusing next on theContacts tab in the Advertiser Details pane of media proposal GUI 70(again, those having skill in the art will appreciate that the AgencyDetails pane may also provide a Contacts tab), the Contacts tab mayallow a user to search all contacts, search for specific contacts,search for specific advertiser contacts, search for specific agencycontacts, search for contacts by 6 status, view various contacts (suchas without limitation by address cards, phone list, email list, and bylocation as may be selected from a’ drop-down main menu on the toolbar),create new contacts, edit contact information (for example through theGeneral tab and Details tab), deactivate contacts, and import contactsfrom another electronic address book, such as that provided in MicrosoftOutlook. Through the Contacts tab, a user may view the contactsassociated with a selected advertiser.

The toolbar on the media proposal GUI 70 may provide icons that a usermay click on to add or edit contacts. For a new contact, clicking on theappropriate icon may open a new window in which a user may enter varioustypes of information for a new contact into various fields. ‘ASalutation field may be provided for a user to input a title for acontact, such as Mr. or Ms. First, Middle, and Last Name fields may beprovided for user to enter the name of a contact for the advertiser. ASuffix field may be provided for a user to enter a suffix such as Jr. orSr. for the contact. A Job Title field may be the provided for’ a userto enter a contact's job title. Other fields, such as Email, Email #2,and Email #3, may be provided for a user to enter the contact's primary,secondary, and tertiary email addresses, respectively. A Business Phonefield may be provided for a user to enter a contact's business phonenumber. A Home Phone field may be provided for user to enter a contact'shome phone number. In an embodiment, only alphanumeric characters may bepermitted in the Business Phone and Home Phone fields. Business Fax andMobile Phone fields may be provided for user to enter a contact'sbusiness fax or mobile phone numbers, respectively. Address and Addressfields may also be provided for a user to enter the primary address andsecondary address of a contact, respectively. These fields may includethe street address, suite or building numbers, city, state or province,zip or postal code, and country. Other fields may also be included for acontact, for instance Spouse's name or Resume fields.

Once the user has finished entering new contact information, the usermay click on a Save icon that may be provided ‘in the toolbar.Additionally, a user may edit a contact by selecting an Edit icon thatmay be provided in the toolbar. A pop-up message may then be provided toconfirm that the save is complete or display a message showing whichfields need to be completed. If any changes were made to the generalinformation in the contact without being saved, a warning may beprovided to ensure that changes are saved before moving on to anothertab. To cancel any changes, a user may select a Cancel icon from thetoolbar. In an embodiment, the contacts item may appear in a third partyaddress book or contact management application that the user mayutilize, such as Microsoft Outlook.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, focusing next on the Notestab in the Advertiser Details pane of the media proposal GUI 70, theNotes tab enables a user to maintain, retrieve, and create notesassociated with a particular advertiser. In an embodiment, a user maysearch for all notes, search for specific advertiser notes, search forspecific agency notes, search for notes by a particular user, and createand edit notes. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that similarfunctionalities may be provided through the Agency Details pane asaccessed by clicking on the Agencies item in the main menu on theleft-hand side of the account management screen. In an embodiment,existing notes displayed in the Advertiser Details window may not beedited or deleted by a particular user. In an embodiment, the Notes tabmay provide a user with a Date/Time field that displays the time anddate the note was entered, a user field that displays which user enteredthe note, a Notes field that displays the text of the note, and anAdvertiser! Agency Name field that displays the name of the advertiserand agency associated with the note. In an embodiment, a user may clickon the note entry under the Tab to gain access to an Account NoteDetails window that allows the user to view the complete note text andother note details.

Media proposal system 10 may also allow a user to create a new note byclicking a “New” icon in the toolbar on the media proposal GUI 70.Clicking on such an icon may provide a user with access to a windowsimilar to the Account Note Details window, in which a user may inputdetails into the provided text field. For example, a user may note thata particular advertiser or agency faces a merger with another company.Once the user enters all of the note information into the Account NoteDetail window, the user may click on a Save icon that may be provided inthe toolbar to save changes. In an embodiment, a message may be providedto confirm to the user that the note is saved. Also, a Cancel icon maybe provided in the toolbar for selection by the user if the user doesnot want to save the note. In an embodiment, a note may not be edited ordeleted once saved. Those having skill in the art will recognize thatother fields may be included for a note. For example, a confidentialfield may be provided to alert a user that a note is 0.3 sensitive andshould be kept confidential.

In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 tracks the notes, and otherinformation, associated with a media proposal. In other words,subsequent users, such as 6 sales managers, business managers, andtraffic managers may, upon viewing a media proposal, access and viewnotes associated with the media proposal by the account executive orother users.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, focusing next on the Emailtab in the Advertiser Details pane of the media proposal GUI 70, theEmail tab may allow a user to view all emails associated with anadvertiser, draft emails, or sent emails, search for emails, create;edit and delete emails, reply to an˜ forward emails, and attach files toemails. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that similarfunctionalities may be provided through the Agency Details pane asaccessed by clicking on the Agencies item in the main menu.

In this embodiment, a user may view the emails associated with aparticular advertiser, and create and edit new emails associated withthat advertiser. In an embodiment, the user may search for an email sentto the advertiser to which the Advertiser Details pane pertains. Theemail tab may list all emails sent to a selected advertiser, and mayprovide search fields that a user may use to search for particularemails within the list. For example, a To field may be provided forsearching for a recipient of the email, a Sent field may be provided forsearching the date that the recipient received the email, and a Subjectfield may be provided for searching the topic of the email. In anembodiment, by clicking on the To, Sent, or Subject fields, the accountexecutive may filter the emails from the respective field.

In an embodiment, an email may be associated with a particular account.The toolbar in the media proposal GUI 70 may provide a New Email iconthat may permit a user to create a new email. A new email window may beprovided. In an embodiment, an email format may be provided similar tothat provided through Microsoft Outlook. Those having skill in the artwill recognize that if a new email is created within the AdvertiserDetails pane, the email may be automatically associated with aparticular advertiser. In an embodiment, if a user creates a new emailfrom the email functioning selected from the main menu, a user may enterdata into an Account field to link the email to a particular Advertiser.A user may enter the addressee in a To field, and subject of the emailin a Subject field. The CC field and the Attach field may also beprovided for data entry by a user. A person skilled in the art willrecognize that other fields may be included for an email, for instance aBCC field to allow blind copies to be sent. A user 6 may click on a Sendbutton to send email to addressee(s). In an embodiment, upon sending,sent email may be automatically added to the Sent Emails section underthe Email tab in the Advertiser Details—pane. In an embodiment, an emailmay be sent and received using a third-party email application that theuser may utilize, such as Microsoft Outlook.

As noted above, email functionality may also be accessed from the mainmenu in the media proposal GUI 70. In an embodiment, when a user selectsemail functionality from the main menu, all emails will be listed, notjust the emails sent to or received from a particular Advertiser orAgency.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, focusing next on the Taskstab in 16 the Advertiser Details pane of the media proposal GUI 70, theTasks tab may allow a user to view and sort all tasks associated with aparticular advertiser. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatsimilar functionalities may be provided through the Agency Details paneas accessed by clicking on the Agencies item in the main menu on theleft-hand side of the account management screen. The Tasks tab mayprovide a user with a list of tasks associated with a particular client,and indicate to the user the status, subject, date, priority and ownerof the task.

Media proposal system 10 may also provide users with the ability tocreate new tasks. With reference now to FIG. 5, shown is an embodimentof a window for entering data for a new task, a task details pane 80. Inan embodiment, the toolbar of the media proposal GUI 70 may provide NewTask icon on which a user may click to access a task details pane 80.The task details pane 80 may provide a Subject field to allow user todescribe the topic of the task. For example, a sales manager may want anaccount executive to organize a conference, and so may list the subjectof the task as Sales Conference. A Due Date field may also be providedto allow a user to choose the due date of the task from a drop-downcalendar. A Start Date field may be provided to allow a user to choosethe start date to begin the task from a drop-down calendar. A Priorityfield may also be provided to allow a user to designate the priority ofthe task as, for example, low, normal, or high. A Status field may beprovided to allow a user to choose the status of the task as, forexample, not started, in progress, waiting on someone else, deferred, orcomplete. A percent (“%”) Complete field may be provided to allow a userto choose the current completion percentage for the task using, forexample, up or down arrows. In an embodiment, a Date Completed field maybe inaccessible by a user and to updates when a task's status is set tocomplete. A Total Work field may be provided to allow a user to enterthe number of estimated hours needed to complete the task. An ActualWork field may be provided to allow a user to enter the number of hoursactually worked on the task. A Description field may be provided toenable a user to enter a description of the task. An Owner field may beprovided to display the name of the user adding the new task. In anembodiment, the Owner field cannot be edited. A person skilled in theart will recognize that other fields may be included for a task. Forexample, an Assigned to field may be provided to list which members ofthe sales force are required to perform the task.

A user may save a new task or save changes to a task by clicking on aSave Task icon that may be provided in the toolbar. A user may also edita task by clicking on an Edit Task icon that may be provided in thetoolbar, and may cancel a new task or task it by clicking on a Cancelicon that may be provided in the toolbar of the media proposal GUI 70.

The daily activities of the account executives may be coupled tightlywith a personal information manager (“PIM”) application (e.g., Outlook®or ACT!®) to provide visibility and accountability into the work effortsof sellers (account executives) by upper level managers (sales managers,business managers, etc.). This coupling allows for extensibility to anyand all tools the account executives use for daily productivity. Mediaproposal system 10 integrates and allows for multiple PIM applicationssuch as Lotus Notes®.

As noted above, a user may focus particularly on advertisers by clickingon the Advertisers item in the account management main menu of the mediaproposal GUI 70. As may be seen in the embodiment of FIG. 4B, clickingon the Advertisers main menu item may allow a user access to icons forAdvertiser Details, Request an Advertiser, and Manage AdvertiserAssignments, in upper left side 76. The Request an Advertiser icon mayallow a user to request a new advertiser. The Manage AdvertiserAssignment icon may, as discussed above, allow a sales manager to assignan account executive to an advertiser, and add any notes pertinent tothe advertiser and the assignment.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that other icons may be addeddepending on the needs of the user. A person skilled in the art willalso recognize that various icon options may change depending on whichmain menu selection the user selects.

With continuing reference to FIG. 4B, as described above, media proposalGUI 70 with Advertiser functionality selected displays toolbar 74related to advertisers across the top of the screen, advertiserfunctions in the upper left side 76, account management main menu 72 onthe lower left side, an advertiser search pane, advertiser searchresults pane, and an advertiser details pane, in the upper, middle andlower right side, of main work area 78. In an embodiment, a user maysearch for advertisers by using a drop-down main menu in advertisersearch pane that allows various search options. The toolbar may providea Search icon that a user may click on to trigger a search foradvertisers. Search results are displayed in advertiser search resultspane. Details of a selected advertiser in advertiser search results maybe displayed in advertiser details pane.

With reference now to FIG. 6, shown is an embodiment of advertisersearch pane 90, advertiser search results pane 92 and advertiser detailspane 94 (i.e., on media proposal GUI 70 with advertiser functionalityselected). In embodiment shown, as opposed to FIG. 4B, a search has beenrun, advertiser search results pane 92 displays search results andadvertiser details pane 94 includes details for an advertiser, e.g.,Gold's Gym, selected in advertiser search results pane 92. Also shown isa drop-down menu 96 that may be provided in the advertiser search pane90.

In this embodiment, search types drop-down menu 96 may provide a way forthe user, to search for advertisers, according to variousclassifications. In the search type drop-down menu 96 a user may selectMy Advertisers to list all advertisers associated with the current user.In an embodiment, selecting the My Advertisers category may allow usersto search the lists of all advertisers assigned to them. The extent ofthe list may depend upon the user requesting the search. For example, ifan account executive selects the My Advertisers category, only thoseadvertisers associated with the account executive will be listed. If asales manager or business manager selects the My Advertisers category,then all the advertisers in a given market may be listed.

Depending on the selection, a second drop-down menu may appear. Forexample, if a user selects a “Specific Advertiser” search, a seconddrop-down menu may appear in advertiser search pane 90 that may permitsearching by Advertiser List/Partial Advertiser categories. If a userselects All Advertisers from the drop-down menu 96, a list of alladvertisers may be returned. If the user selects Advertiser by AE, thesearch may return 6 all advertisers assigned to the account executiveselected or assigned to multiple account executives that may be selectedfrom a drop-down main menu that may become visible only after the“Advertiser by AE” list is selected. In an embodiment, an AdvertiserList/Partial Advertiser drop-down main menu may be provided both when auser selects Advertiser by AE and when a user selects SpecificAdvertiser from search types drop-down menu 96. If a user selectsAdvertisers Without Activity from the drop-down menu 96, the search mayreturn all advertisers that have not performed a specified activitysince the specified date. If a user selects Advertisers with IncompleteGeneral Tab from the drop-down menu 96, the search may return alladvertisers that do not have the necessary or sufficient informationentered on the General tab (discussed below). For example, variousfields on the General tab may be required to be complete before anadvertiser: can be injected to traffic and billing system. A DeactivatedAdvertisers selection may return all advertisers that have beendeactivated. This functionality gives the users a sense of theadvertiser landscape prior to implementation of media proposal system 10and, while media proposal system 10 is in use, it provides an indicationof advertisers removed from the media proposal system 10. In essence,the media proposal system 10 provides a continuous, ongoing datacleansing process.

With reference now to FIG. 7, shown is another embodiment of advertisersearch results pane 92 and advertiser details pane 94. Advertiser searchresults pane 92 and advertiser details pane 94 may be displayed, e.g.,in main work area 78 of media proposal 26. GUI 70 or as separate window.As noted above, advertiser search results pane 92 may show the resultsof a search based on the selected criteria selected from the searchtypes drop-down list 96. The results may be, for example, sorted byadvertiser name in ascending order.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the advertiser searchresults pane 92 may be configured to show a variety of information. Inan embodiment, the search results pane 92 may list, for each returnedadvertisement, a DUNS number, the account executive(s) Advertiserassigned to the advertiser, advertiser name, advertiser agency,strategic account management (SAM) category (discussed below),’ andcontact information. The DUNS # column displays the Dun and Bradstreetnumber assigned to the advertiser. The Account Executive column displaysthe name of the account executive assigned to the advertiser. There maybe multiple account executives assigned to an advertiser. The AdvertiserName column displays the name of the advertiser. The Default Agencycolumn displays the agency typically associated with the advertiser. TheSAM Category displays a Strategic Account Management market category(e.g., Key/Primary, Secondary, Target, Extra) assigned to theadvertiser. The SAM categories categorize advertiser accounts andprovide various tools to enable the sales manager to manage theactivities necessary for each category (e.g., see below for alertstriggered by under performance by key accounts). The City andState/Province columns respectively display the city and the state orprovince where the advertiser physically resides. Finally, the PrimaryTelephone # column displays the primary telephone number for theadvertiser. Those having skill in the art will recognize that othercolumns may be included in the advertiser search results pane 92.

Embodiments of media proposal system 10 create workflow and reportingfor prospecting activities with the SAM category used as an input.Although SAM categories have been used previously, media proposal system10 builds on these SAM categories to create various triggers, such as:e.g., triggers that alert sales managers when account lists are eithertoo large or too broad for account executives to be efficient; triggersthat alert business managers to review credit activities more closelywhen advertisers are requested; triggers that alert sales managers whenkey (or primary) accounts are under performing, etc. All of thesetriggers are preferably tied to the SAM inputs.

Key or primary accounts are defined on a per account executive basis.For example, a major fast food chain advertiser may be a key account forart account executive. Moreover, the same advertiser may be a keyaccount for multiple account executives; in other words, multipleaccount executives may service the same advertiser. Furthermore, whilean advertiser may be a key account for one account executive, the sameadvertiser may be a secondary (or tertiary, etc.) account for anotheraccount executive. This primacy of advertiser accounts may be definedwhen advertiser record or account executive records are created oredited in media proposal system 10. Similar primacy of agencies,representative firms, etc., may also be similarly defined in media 33proposal system 10.

With continuing reference to FIG. 7, the user may wish to view andmanipulate the results of an advertiser search. For example, each of thecolumns in the advertiser search results pane 92 may be used to sort thelist by clicking on the column's title. If the user clicks the columnonce, the list will be sorted in ascending order, if the column isclicked twice, the list will be sorted in descending order.

Additionally, each of the columns may contain a drop-down arrow that theuser may click to select a specific item by which to filter the resultsor define a custom column filter. A person skilled in the art willrecognize that there are other methods that can be employed to searchthrough different fields in the advertiser search results pane 92. Asalso may be seen in the embodiment of advertiser details pane 94 shown,the “Advertiser Details” may provide a number of tabs with which a usermay view the information associated with an advertiser selected from theadvertiser search results pane 92. When a different advertiser ischosen, the new advertiser information appears. The Content, Tasks,Notes, Email and Calendar tabs are discussed above.

The General tab of advertiser details pane 94 displays generalinformation associated with the advertiser selected in advertiser searchresults pane 92. In an embodiment, the General tab may be the defaulttab displayed when the advertiser details pane 94 appears. An accountexecutive or other user may need to update information about aparticular advertiser throughout the sales process. In an embodiment, auser may edit information for a selected Advertiser by selecting theEdit icon from the toolbar of the media proposal GUI 70.

With continuing reference to FIG. 7, an embodiment, the General tab mayprovide a number of fields. An Advertiser Name field may be provided todisplay the name of the advertiser. An Industry Code field may beprovided as a drop-down field for entering the industry for theadvertiser. In an embodiment, the industry provided for an advertisermay match the records provided in the traffic and billing system (e.g.,VIERO® RMS) database 16. An Advertiser Separation field may be providedto allow the user to input the minimum number of minutes that must existbetween advertisements of the same category—when scheduled in thetraffic and billing system. A Revenue Type field may be provided as adrop-down field that may be used to enter the revenue type for theaccount. A Primary Telephone field may be provided to input the primarytelephone number for the advertiser. The Mailing/Billing Address fieldmay be provided to enter an address for invoices and confirmations.

In an embodiment, other fields in the advertiser details for a givenadvertiser may be entered by a user. An ID # field may correspond to thetraffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS) identification number thatsupports integration between the traffic and billing system and mediaproposal system 10. If the ID # field is not populated, the mediaproposal system 10 may treat the advertiser as a new advertiser forwhich an order has not yet been injected into the traffic and billingsystem. When an advertiser places an order (e.g., accepts a mediaproposal) and the accepted proposal is approved through the proposalprocess, the order may be injected/loaded into the traffic and billingsystem and given an ID number. An additional button, Export to Traffic,may also be made available so that new advertiser information can beforced into the traffic and billing system, even without a completeorder. An Old Advertiser ID # field may designate the old advertisernumber that may have been used in the traffic and billing system torefer to previous traffic and billing system numbers for the selectedadvertiser. The SAM Category field may, in an embodiment, only be editedby the sales manager.

With continued reference to FIG. 7, the DUNS # is the Dun & Bradstreetnumber field. The DUNS number may be from the traffic and billingsystem, and may automatically populate this field. An Account Sincefield may be provided to show the date on which the account was created.In an embodiment, this field may not be edited by a user. An AccountDeactivation field may be provided to display the date on which theaccount was deactivated. In an embodiment, only a sales manager orbusiness manager may have access rights to de-activate an account byselecting the Deactivate button on the toolbar.

An electronic data interchange (EDI) Agency ID field may be provided toallow a user to enter the electronic invoicing ID number of the agencyfor the selected advertiser. A Default Agency Name field may be providedto allow a user to input the main agency that represents thisadvertiser. A Default Special Request field may be provided as adrop-down main menu and may be used to define any additional informationthat is used in the proposal. This entry may be modified before an orderis injected into the traffic and billing system.

A Total Media Budget field may be provided to allow a user to input adollar amount representing what the advertiser is spending annuallyacross all advertising media. A Total Radio Budget field may be providedto allow a user to input a dollar amount that displays what theadvertiser is spending annually on radio advertising. A Facsimile# fieldmay be provided to allow a user to input the fax number for the 6advertiser. An Email field may be provided to allow a user to input theemail address for the selected advertiser. A Website field may beprovided to allow a user to input the website URL of the selectedadvertiser. This and other data input will be used in the future toprovide forecasting and reporting as a key performance indicator(“KPI”).

With continued reference to FIG. 7, a Mailing/Billing Address section ofGeneral tab of advertiser details pane 94 may be provided to show theaddress for invoices and confirmations, and may provide fields for datainput by a user. For example, a field Address #2 may be provided toallow a user to—input the selected advertiser's suite or building numberwhere advertiser's mail should be sent. An Attention field may beprovided to allow a user to enter the name of the individual who shouldreceive billing or mailing items.

An Assigned Users field may be provided to allow a sales manager to listaccount executives that are assigned to an advertiser. A person skilledin the art will recognize that other fields may be added under theGeneral tab to further integrate information for and automate the salesprocess. A person skilled in the art will also recognize that theGeneral tab may also be used in the other main menu selections. Forexample, the Agencies main menu selection may also display a General tabwith similar fields.

Once a user has finished entering all new general information, a Saveicon on the toolbar of the media proposal GUI 70 may be clicked to savethe information. A pop-up message may be provided to confirm that thesave is complete or to display a message showing which fields need to becompleted. If any changes were made to the general information withoutbeing saved, a warning may be provided to ensure that changes are savedbefore moving on to another tab. To cancel any changes, a user mayselect the Cancel icon from the toolbar.

With reference now to FIG. 8, shown is an embodiment of a credit pane98, accessed through selecting credit tab on advertiser detail pane 94.In an embodiment, Dun and Bradstreet credit information for businesses,and a third-party system for providing that information, may beinterfaced with media proposal system 10 to provide users such asaccount executives or sales managers with credit information onadvertisers, agencies, or other customers. In an embodiment, other userssuch as business managers may be limited to recording credit terms anddata for an advertiser. In an embodiment, a business manager may be incharge of assessing the current risk for a given advertiser or agency,and specify the terms on which credit may be extended. An accountexecutive or sales manager may then view those terms in credit pane 98,to follow through with them. A sales manager or account executive maychoose a search option in the Search Types drop-down list, and thenclick Search in the icon toolbar. A user may edit credit information fora selected advertiser or agency by selecting the Edit icon from thetoolbar.

By providing this credit information, media proposal system 10 automatesthis credit-check step in the sales process. A media outlet, such as aradio station, must evaluate the credit risk that may be posed byadvertisers and agencies before rendering services. In an embodiment,the business manager needs to be able to determine whether theadvertiser or agency is sufficiently creditworthy to be sold radioadvertising, such as without limitation radio streaming advertising orterrestrial radio advertising. In an embodiment, a DUNS number may berequired for the business manager to view credit 18 data on an account,but after this number is matched to the advertiser or agency, thebusiness manager can update the Advertised Agency Record with the creditrisk on the account.

With continuing reference to FIG. 8, in an embodiment, a businessmanager may provide information in a number of fields of credit pane 98.Credit Terms fields may be provided in which a business manager may edita Payment Terms field (which may, for example, be listed in days), aCredit Limit field (which may, for example, be listed in dollars), and aCredit Approval field in which a business manager may affirmativelyindicate that credit has been approved for an advertiser as reported byDun and Bradstreet.

In an embodiment, a business manager may be able to view the fieldsdescribed below in a credit data section of the credit pane 98. TheBankruptcy Note field lists any notes about the bankruptcy status of theadvertiser, and the Out of Business Note field lists any notes about theout-of-business status that may apply to the advertiser. A Credit RiskScore field may be provided to allow a business manager to view a numberthat predicts the likelihood that an advertiser will pay its bills in aseverely delinquent manner, for example, 90+ days past term, or thelikelihood that the media outlet or enterprise will have to obtain legalrelief from creditors, or the likelihood that an advertiser will ceaseoperations without paying all” creditors in full over the next months.In an embodiment, scoring may be provided a range from 1 to 5, withbeing the most favorable ranking. Similarly, a Financial Stress Scorefield may be provided to assist a business manager in assessing thelikelihood of an advertiser ceasing business without paying allcreditors in full, or reorganizing, or obtaining relief from creditorsunder state or federal law over the next months. A Last Credit Updatefield may be provided to show the date on which any updates were made tothe advertiser's credit. Additionally, in an embodiment of the creditpane 98, an Update Credit Data button may be provided to allow abusiness manager to automatically update credit data for an advertiserbased on available information. An External Update button may beprovided to allow a business manager to access data from a third partycredit reporting service, or if a more recent update is needed. In anembodiment, the External Update button may provide a link to athird-party web site or application connected to Fusion through theEnterprise Bus.

With continuing reference to FIG. 8, in an embodiment, the credit pane98 may also provide a Credit Outlook section that may allow a businessmanager to view a graphical representation of the combined FinancialStress Score and the Credit Score. This automated graphic may provide abusiness manager a quick way to evaluate credit risk in order to decidewhether to extend credit to an advertiser (or agency, as the case maybe). In an embodiment, four types of credit valuations may be displayedin a grid graphic. In the grid graphic, a Star graphic maybe provided todenote an advertiser likely to pay, and to pay quickly. A Short TermRisk graphic may be provided to denote an advertiser likely to pay, butperhaps not likely to pay within the first 90 days of invoicing. A LongTerm Risk graphic may be provided to denote an advertiser that is likelyto either pay quickly, or if payment is not made quickly, likely not topay for a long time or at all. A Watch List graphic may be provided todenote an advertiser not likely to pay in the first 90 days, if at all.

When the business manager finishes entering data into the Credit Termsfields under the credit pane 98, and after the business manager viewsthe Credit Data fields and Credit Outlook graphic, a business managermay choose to click the “Credit Approval” field, to allow the salesprocess to continue. After all data has been entered, the business 33manager may select the Save icon in the toolbar to save changes to theaccount. If the business manager desires to edit any of the terms laterfor a selected Advertiser, the Edit icon may be selected from thetoolbar.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that other fields populatedbased on the DUNS number could be included in the credit pane 98. Aperson skilled in the art will also recognize that the credit pane 98may also be used in the other main menu selections. 6 For example, theAgencies main menu selection may also display a Credit tab with similarfields. A person skilled in the art will recognize that variations ofthe Credit Outlook graphic could be displayed, such as displayingdifferent colors for the different credit risk evaluations.

With reference now to FIG. 9A, shown is an embodiment of a SAM pane 100,accessed through selecting SAM tab on advertiser detail pane 94. Mediaproposal system 10 allows for strategic account management. Thoseskilled in the art would appreciate how the embodiments described hereinhandle SAM. SAM, as it is known in the media industry, is a way toclassify clients to better enable account executives to prioritize theirtime prospecting or servicing the accounts assigned to them. Key orprimary accounts are the primary’ revenue stream for the accountexecutives and as such are top priority for maintaining currentcampaigns and future activity. Secondary accounts are usually those thathave bought media offerings in the past but do not do so consistently.Target accounts are those that could greatly benefit from mediaofferings and as such are “targeted” in the account executive's lists.Extra accounts are those that are hit or miss for using media products.Embodiments described herein use these categories to more efficientlyhandle workflow and account management. One way that embodiments assistaccount executives is by providing a higher visibility in reporting ofKey and Target accounts. Another way is to display to sales managers thequantity of key accounts each account executive has in his/her list, sothat sales managers can ensure the account executive maintains abalanced account load. Another is to provide the account executive with“tickler” alerts on accounts that need attention based on a rule set foreach category (e.g., more reminders' for a key account than a secondaccount, etc.).

With continuing reference to FIG. 9A, just as an account executive maybe assigned to an advertiser or agency, an account executive may beassigned to a particular media outlet (e.g., a radio station) to managethe various advertiser or agency accounts for that station. To add ordelete an account executive assignment, a sales manager may 33 selectthe Edit icon from the toolbar or select add or delete on SAM pane 100.Then, a sales manager may add a SAM category and corresponding stationfrom drop-down main menus within the field SAM Category by clicking onan Add button. To delete a category, a sales manager may click on a“Delete” button. After all of the changes to the SAM category pane 100are made, the sales manager may select a Save icon in the toolbar tosave changes to the account.

With reference now to FIG. 9B, shown is an embodiment of method 500 foradding a new advertiser account to media proposal system 10. Method 500may utilize media proposal system GUIs as described herein. Mediaproposal system 10 receives user (e.g., account executive) input ofadvertiser account record, including a SAM category, block 502. Anaccount executive, for example, may enter this information through GUIsas described herein. Media proposal system 10 sends new account recordto sales manager, block 504. For example, media proposal system 10 maylist new customer account under a “Needing My Attention” folder or paneof sales manager's media proposal GUI 70. Sales manager determineswhether SAM is correct, block 506 and modifies SAM in customer record,block 508, if not correct. Sales manager validates account (e.g.,selects “Valid” on customer record screen), block 510. Media proposalsystem 10 notifies business manager, block 512, e.g., by removing newcustomer account from sales manager instance of media proposal GUI 70and listing new customer account under on business manager's mediaproposal GUI 70. Media proposal system 10 then forwards new customerrecord to traffic and billing system, populating traffic and billingdatabase with customer record, block 514. In this manner, media proposalsystem 10 synchronizes with traffic and billing system.

In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 provides a system and methodfor creating and maintaining parent/child relationships between mediacustomer (e.g., advertiser) records in the traffic and billing system(e.g., VIERO® RMS) and media proposal system 10. In an embodiment, mediaproposal system 10 enables users (e.g., account executives) to definemulti-dimensional relationships between media customers, media agencies(e.g., advertising agencies), media advertising providers, and/oraccount representatives (representing one or more media outlets—e.g.,radio station, television station, internet site, newspaper, etc.). Themethod and system of relationship defining enables media customers to beeasily brokered through third-party representation, enables strategicaccount tagging in media proposal system 10 and traffic and billingsystem, defines relationships between account representatives and mediacustomers, provides electronic billing data that can be parsed tomultiple invoice customers and aggregated across a media enterprise andallow˜ for unique report.

With reference now to FIGS. 10A to 10G, shown are block diagramsillustrating various types of exemplary advertiser relationships thatmay be defined using media proposal system 10. In an embodiment of mediaproposal system 10, the advertiser 6 record is the central record.Around the advertiser record, stored in media proposal system database14, a user may build proposals, relationships and conduct reporting. Oneof ordinary skill in the art will realize from the description hereinthat the illustrated relationships are examples and that many differentrelationships may be defined within the scope of media proposal system10 and the description herein. An account executive typically definesthe relationships by associating them with the advertiser record. Insome circumstances, relationships are parent/child relationships, andthe account executive typically defines who within a relationship isparent and who is child. This may be done, for example, usingfunctionality shown in FIGS. 11A-C and described below.

With reference to FIG. 10A, it is particularly noteworthy thatrelationships for an advertiser may be different depending on thecontext. Specifically, an advertiser may have different relationshipsfor each stage of workflow within the proposal process of media proposalsystem 10. These stages include proposal (creation, submission, approvaland injection of proposal in traffic and billing system), maintenance(maintaining campaign schedule and reporting on orders after injectionand invoicing (invoicing customers for completed advertising campaigns).The relationships defined for each advertiser establish and includebusiness rules that are utilized by media proposal system 10 in theperformance of each of these stages.

As shown in FIG. 10A, media proposal system database 14 includesadvertiser records 400 for each advertiser. In an embodiment, eachadvertiser record 400 includes user-defined relationships and thebusiness rules to be applied for each of the relationships. As shown,the relationships for advertiser record 400 include differentrelationships 402 for the proposal, maintenance and invoicing stages. Inthe proposal stage, for example, the relationship 402 may be defined asbeing between media representative (e.g., account executive) andnational advertiser, via representative firm and agency. Therelationship 402 may be defined with, business rules so that mediaproposal system 10, applying business rules, knows to submit proposal torepresentative firm for forwarding to advertiser for approval. In themaintenance stage, for example, relationship 402 may be defined as beingbetween media representative and advertiser directly, in which businessrules direct media proposal system 10 to forward generated reports toadvertiser directly; alternatively, relationship may be defined as justbetween media representative and representative firm, with correspondingbusiness rules. Likewise, in the invoicing stage, relationship 402 maybe defined as being between media representative and representative firmor agency alone, with corresponding business rules that direct mediaproposal system 10 to invoice, or instruct associated invoicing systemto invoice representative firm or agency directly. One of skill in theart may see the almost innumerable permutations of relationships andcorresponding business rules here.

With reference now to FIG. 10B, shown are three exemplary relationships402 connecting a single media customer (e.g., a local advertiser ornational advertiser) and a single media outlet (e.g., a radio or TVstation). The relationships 402 shown here may be proposal stagerelationships. In the first relationship 402 a shown, media proposalsystem 10 has defined a relationship 402 a between a mediarepresentative (e.g., account executive) for media outlet and a localadvertiser (an advertiser in the local market of the media outlet). Inthis relationship 402 a, the media representative deals directly withthe local advertiser and relationship 402 a business rules direct mediaproposal system 10 to submit media advertising proposals directly to thelocal advertiser. In the second relationship 402 b shown, media proposalsystem 10 has defined a relationship 402 b between a mediarepresentative, a local advertising agency, and a local advertiser. Asmentioned above, the account executive may define the agency as theparent and the advertiser as the child (see below for discussion ofrelationship defining). However, the details of a particular purchase or“buy” of advertising typically determine the definition of the parentchild relationship. In relationship 402 b, the media representativedeals with local advertising agency and relationship 402 b businessrules direct media proposal system 10 to submit media advertisingproposals to the local advertising agency, which places advertising withmedia outlets for local advertiser. In the third relationship 402 cshown, media proposal system 10 has defined a relationship 402 c betweena media representative, a local advertising agency, and a nationaladvertiser. In relationship 402 c, the media representative deals withlocal advertising agency, which places advertising with local mediaoutlets for national advertiser. In all of the relationships shown,there is a 1-to-1 relationship between <media outlet and advertiser andare stored in the advertiser record 400.

With reference now to FIG. 10C, six additional exemplary relationships402 connecting a single media customer (e.g., a local advertiser ornational advertiser) and multiple media outlets (e.g., a radio stations)are shown. The relationships 402 shown here may also be proposal stagerelationships. In the first three relationships 402 d shown, mediaproposal system 10 has defined relationships 402 d between mediarepresentatives (e.g., account executives) for three media outlets, arepresentative firm (e.g., KATZ media) and a national advertiser. Asabove, the representative firm may be defined as the parent, thenational advertiser and/or the media representative as the child, andthis may change based on functions executed in the buy, as describedabove. In these relationships 402 d, the media representatives for eachmedia outlet (e.g., television stations—note can be multiple mediatypes) deal with the representative firm and relationship 402 d businessrules direct media proposal system 10 to submit media advertisingproposals to the representative firm, which places advertising fornational advertiser.

In the second three relationships 402 e shown, media proposal system 10has defined relationships between media representatives (e.g., accountexecutives) for three media outlets, a representative firm, a nationaladvertising agency, and a national advertiser: In these relationships402 e, the media representatives for each media outlet (e.g., internetsites) deal with the representative firm and relationship 402 e businessrules direct media proposal system 10 to submit media advertisingproposals to the representative firm, which places advertising fornational advertiser, who is represented by national advertising agency.All of these relationships 402 d, 402 e represent a one-to-manyrelationship for the advertiser and are stored in the advertiser record400.

With reference now to FIG. 10D, shown are relationships 402corresponding to the single advertiser, single media outletrelationships 402 shown in FIG. 10B. The relationships 402 shown heremay be maintenance stage relationships 402. Media proposal system 10 hasdefined a relationship 402 aa between a media representative (e.g.,account executive) for media outlet and a local advertiser (anadvertiser in the local market of the media outlet). As above, in thisrelationship 402 aa, the media representative deals directly with thelocal advertiser and relationship 402 aa business rules direct mediaproposal system 10 to send reports, communications, and otherinformation regarding order scheduling maintenance directly to the localadvertiser.

Media proposal system 10 has defined two relationships 402 correspondingto 33 relationship 402 b in FIG. 10B: relationship 402 ba between amedia representative and a local advertiser, in which local agency isomitted, and relationship 402 bb in which advertiser is omitted (formaintenance purposes). The relationships 402 shown here may bemaintenance stage relationships 402 (alternatively, the relationships402 could be proposal stage relationships in which proposals arecommunicated per business rules defined by relationships 402. Inrelationship 402 ba business rules dictate media proposal system sendsreports, communications, and other information regarding orderscheduling maintenance directly to the local advertiser, and localadvertiser communicates directly with media representative. Inrelationship 402 bb business rules dictate media proposal system 10sends reports, communications, and other information regarding orderscheduling maintenance directly to local agency, and local agencycommunicates directly back with media representative. Media proposalsystem 10 has also defined two relationships 402 corresponding torelationship 402 c in FIG. 10B relationship 402 ca between a mediarepresentative and national advertiser, in which local agency isomitted, and relationship 402 cb in which national advertiser is omitted(for maintenance purposes). In relationship 402 ca business rulesdictate media proposal system sends reports, communications, and otherinformation regarding order scheduling maintenance directly to thenational advertiser, and national advertiser communicates directly withmedia representative. In relationship 402 cb business rules dictatemedia proposal system 10 sends reports, communications, and otherinformation regarding order scheduling maintenance directly to localagency, and local agency communicates directly back with mediarepresentative. All of these relationships are stored in the advertiserrecord 400.

With reference now to FIG. 10E, shown are multiple relationships 402corresponding to relationships 402 d in FIG. 10C: relationships 402 dabetween media representatives and a national advertiser, omitting arepresentative firm, and relationships 402 db between mediarepresentatives and a representative firm, omitting the nationaladvertiser. The relationships 402 shown here may be maintenance stagerelationships 402 (alternatively, the relationships 402 could beproposal stage relationships in which proposals are communicated perbusiness rules defined by relationships 402). In relationships 402 da,business rules dictate media proposal system 10 sends reports,communications, and other information regarding order schedulingmaintenance directly to the national advertiser, and national advertisercommunicates directly with media 33 representatives. In relationships402 db business rules dictate media proposal system 10 sends reports,communications, and other information regarding order schedulingmaintenance directly to the representative firm, and representative firmcommunicates directly with media representatives. All of theserelationships are stored in the advertiser record 400.

With reference now to FIG. 10F, shown are multiple relationships 402 6corresponding to relationships 402 e in FIG. 10C: relationships 402 eabetween media representatives and a national advertiser via a nationalagency; relationships 402 eb between media representatives and nationaladvertiser, via a representative firm; and relationships 402 ec betweenmedia representatives and a national agency, via a representative firm.The relationships 402 shown here may be maintenance stage relationships402 (alternatively, the relationships. 402 could be proposal stagerelationships in which proposals are communicated per business rulesdefined by relationships 402). In relationships 402 ea, business rulesdictate media proposal system 10 sends reports, communications, andother information regarding order scheduling maintenance to the nationaladvertiser via the national agency, and national advertiser communicateswith media representatives through the national agency. In relationships402 eb business rules dictate media proposal system 10 sends reports,communications, and other information regarding order schedulingmaintenance to the national advertiser via the representative firm, andnational advertiser communicates with media representatives via therepresentative firm. In relationships 402 ec business rules dictatemedia proposal system 10 sends reports, communications, and otherinformation regarding order scheduling maintenance to the nationalagency via the representative firm, and national agency communicateswith media representatives via the representative firm. All of theserelationships are stored in the advertiser record 400.

With reference now to FIG. 10G, shown are a maintenance stagerelationship 402 m and a corresponding invoicing stage relationship 402i. In maintenance stage relationship 402 m, media representativecommunicates to national advertiser through representative firm,omitting national agency (i.e., business rules dictate media proposalsystem 10 sends reports, communications, and other information regardingorder scheduling maintenance to national advertiser via representativefirm). In corresponding invoicing stage relationship 402 i, mediarepresentative communicates invoice to national agency viarepresentative firm (i.e., business rules dictate media proposal system10, or separate invoicing system as directed by media proposal system10, send invoices to national agency via representative firm). As one ofskill in the art can determine from the above, nearly innumerable othermaintenance and invoicing relationships may be defined. All of theserelationships are stored in the advertiser record 400.

With reference now to FIGS. 11A-11B shown is an embodiment of aparent/child pane 102, accessed through selecting parent/child tab onadvertiser detail panel 94. Sometimes advertisers and agencies may berelated to other advertisers or agencies, or to representative firms,etc., as shown above. For example, a user may desire to relate all ofthe 7-Eleven stores in a market to an independent regional owner. Mediaproposal system 10 keeps track of these relationships and allows a userto view relationships very quickly. In an embodiment, the parent/childpane 102 allows a sales manager to assign a parent or child relationshipto an advertiser˜ agency, representative firms, etc. The parent/childpane 102 may also allow for requesting roll-up reporting of revenue;roll-up reporting rolls-up the revenue of all children of a parent intothe parent's revenue so that a single view of the parent's and thechildren's revenue is shown under the parent. In the example of 7-Elevenabove, advertising revenue can be viewed for 7-Eleven as a company or byregional 7-Eleven franchise ownerships. The parent/child functionalityis a continuation of the data cleansing and standardization that takesplace during the implementation of media proposal system 10. Asdescribed herein, media proposal system 10 includes tools that do bulkdata cleansing at the beginning of implementation after which, theparent/child functionality provides continuous efforts to improve dataquality. Workflow and other functionality within the media proposalsystem 10 force proper validation of advertiser records that are missingdata such as parent/child information.

In an embodiment, a user may first designate an advertiser as a parent.Next, the user may select one or more advertisers that are to be thechildren of the parent advertiser by highlighting an advertiser’ fromthe advertiser search results pane 92 (as seen in FIG. 11B). In anembodiment, a user will not be able to edit the parent-childrelationships under the parent/child pane 102 unless the user hasclicked on the Edit icon in the toolbar and then clicked the Parent orChild checkbox in the advertiser details pane 94 under the parent/childpane 102. A drop-down list called Parent may be used to assign achild-30 advertiser. By highlighting an advertiser from the Parentdrop-down list, an advertiser highlighted in the advertiser searchresults pane 92 may be assigned a child relationship to the parent inthe drop-down list. The user may click on the Save icon in the toolbarto save changes made to the parent and child relationship. When theassignments are complete, a user may select the parent in the advertisersearch results pane 92 and the children assigned to that parent will bedisplayed in the parent/child pane 102. A person skilled in the art willrecognize that the parent/child pane 102 may be used in other main menuselections. For example, the Agencies main menu selection may contain aparent/child panel with similar fields and functions to enable the userto assign relationships between agencies. This Parent Child relationshipis common in media advertiser management.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 11A-11B, in an embodiment, a numberof business rules may be applied to parent/child relationships. Forexample, in an embodiment, an account must be designated as either aparent or a child. All accounts are parents by default until assigned toa parent, a parent cannot be a child of another parent, a child can onlybe assigned otherwise, a parent can have zero to many children, and,when selecting a parent account, a user may not choose the same accountas a parent. Accounts must be stored in a traffic and billing engine(e.g., VIERO® RMS) before they can be assigned a child or parent status.Only active accounts may be displayed on the parent/child pane 102. Thechild account may be deactivated. A parent account with no children maybe deactivated. All children accounts must first be disassociated’ froma parent account before a parent account may be deactivated. If a userdecides that a parent account should become a child account, the userwill be asked if the children will inherit the new parent. Parent/childrelationships cannot cross between advertisers and agencies. Only salesmanagers, business managers and traffic managers are provided by defaultsecurity read/write access to the parent/child pane 102, whereas accountexecutives are not provided read-only access. Those having skill in theart will recognize that such rules as the preceding are exemplary, arehelpful, but not necessary, and that other or different rules may besuitable or appropriate.

As discussed above, embodiments of media proposal system 10 may allow anaccount executive to request assignment to a particular advertiser. Withreference to FIG. 11C, shown is an embodiment of a window, advertiserassignment pane 104, through which a user, such as an account executive,may request an advertiser assignment.

In an embodiment, an account executive may request assignment to an’advertiser by clicking on a Request an Advertiser icon that may beprovided in upper left-side 76 of the media proposal GUI 70. After theaccount executive clicks on the Request an Advertiser icon, advertiserassignment search pane 104, advertiser assignment search results pane106 and advertiser request detail pane 108 may become visible in themedia proposal GUI 70. In an embodiment, an account executive may searchfor an advertiser using the search functionality provided through anadvertiser assignment search pane 104. An account executive may, forexample, search by advertiser name, city, state or province, ZIP code,country, telephone number, DUNS number and Federal EmployerIdentification Number (FEIN). The media proposal GUI 70 may provide aSearch icon in the toolbar to execute the search. Search results may beprovided in a list of advertisers matching the search criteria. In anembodiment, the list of search results may be provided in advertiserassignment search results pane 106, as depicted in FIG. 11C. The searchresults may be organized into a number of columns. A Current Assignmentcolumn may be provided to display the name of the account executivecurrently assigned to the account. A Company Name column may be providedto display the name of the company advertiser). A DUNS # column may beprovided to display the DUNS number of the advertiser. A FEIN column maybe provided to display the Federal Employer Identification Number of theadvertiser. An address column may be provided to display’ the streetaddress of the advertiser. A city column may be provided to display thename of the city of the advertiser. A State/Province column may beprovided to display the state where advertiser has a business location.A Zip/Postal Code column may be provided to display the postal locationcode of the advertiser. A SIC code column may be provided to display theStandard Industrial Classification of the advertiser. AHeadquarters/Branch column may be provided to identify the type ofoffice, e.g., whether a particular office location is used as theadvertiser's headquarters, or is a regional or local branch. A phonecolumn may be provided to list the advertiser's phone number. Eachcolumn has a drop-down arrow at the top to enable an account executiveto sort the result listings. In an embodiment, clicking once on a,column head may sort the column in ascending alphabetical order, andclicking twice on a column head may sort the column in descendingalphabetical order.

With continuing reference to FIG. 11C, in an embodiment, the results ofthe search in advertiser assignment search results pane 106 may be codedwith different colors. For example, the color green may be used if theadvertiser has a traffic and billing system ID (e.g. a VIERO® ID) store˜in the media proposal system database 14, the color blue may be used ifthe advertiser does not have a traffic and billing system ID stored inthe media proposal system database and was requested, and no color maybe used if the advertiser is not fully registered in the media proposalsystem database 14 is a result set from DUN and Bradstreet. Thisfunctionality and process acts to assist users, whether accountexecutives, sales managers, business managers and/or traffic managers,see visual clues to help data cleansing. Prior to media proposal system10, many records for the same 6 advertiser would exist because ofdifferent or misspellings which created inconsistencies in local,regional and rollup enterprise reporting. Also contained in this processis required workflow based on business rules such as a second set ofeyes looking at the advertiser or agency record creations.

An account executive may click on an advertiser in, advertiserassignment search results pane 106 to highlight the advertiser they wantto request. An advertiser request detail pane 108 may be provided in themedia proposal GUI 70, and that pane 108 may be populated withadvertiser information. In an embodiment, a Notes field may be providedin advertiser request detail pane 108. An account executive may providein the notes field reasons for requesting the selected advertiser. In anembodiment, the media proposal our 70 may provide a Request AccountWithout DUNS box in the advertiser request detail pane that may bechecked if the advertiser does not have’ a DUNS number or a DUNS numberhas not yet been assigned through media proposal system 10. When theRequest Account Without DUNS box is checked, a new account informationsection of the advertiser request detail pane may be provided for theaccount executive to input advertiser information.

With continuing reference to FIG. 11C, after advertiser request detailpane 108 is completed, an account executive may click on a submit iconthat may be provided in the toolbar to send the request to a salesmanager. In an embodiment ‘of advertiser request detail pane 108, amessage may be provided to notify the account executive that the requestwas submitted to the sales manager.

A sales manager may review and approve the request by accessing anApprove an Advertiser Request pane that may be provided by clicking onthe Approvals item that may be provided in the main menu. In anembodiment, two icons, Advertiser Assignment Requests and AgencyEstablishment Requests may be provided in an Approvals pane (now shown)of the media proposal GUI 70. A sales manager may search for Advertiserrequests using the Search pane that may be provided in the mediaproposal GUI 70. The Search pane may contain a Search Types drop-downlist to search for Advertisers by category. In an embodiment, the SearchTypes drop-down list may allow a sales manager to search for all itemsassigned to the sales manager, All Advertisers that returns alladvertiser requests, or Submitted Advertisers that returns alladvertisers that have been submitted to the sales manager selected fromthe Sales Manager List. The sales manager may then click on a Searchicon that may be provided in the toolbar of media proposal GUI 70 inorder to begin the search.

Those having skill in the art will appreciate that other users mayaccess and use the Approvals function to view matters that pertain to auser. For example, in an embodiment, account executives may also searchthe All Advertisers option of the Search Types drop-down list to viewadvertisers assigned to that account executive. Sales assistants mayalso search using the All Advertisers option of the Search Typesdrop-down list to view advertisers assigned to that sales assistant.Sales managers searching the All Advertisers option of the Search Typesdrop-down list may see all advertisers in the market displayed. Thosehaving skill in the art will appreciate that various users may havedifferent access rights depending, for example, on the role that theuser has in that sales process.

A sales manager may sort for all advertisers according to their approvalstatus by choosing one of three options in the Status drop-down list.The sales manager can select the options Pending, Approved, or Deniedfrom the Status drop-down list to search for Advertisers whose status ispending, approved, or denied. A sales manager may also select from aSales Manager List drop-down list to search for a sales manager that mayhave approved or denied a request for an advertiser. After the salesmanager selects the search criteria, a list of advertisers matching thesearch criteria may be provided in an advertiser request search resultspane.

The advertiser request search results pane may display search results inmultiple columns. Such columns may include Advertiser Name and DUNS #which are self-explanatory at this point. Other columns may include, forexample, Requesting Account Executive which may display the accountexecutive requesting assignment to’ the advertiser, Current AccountExecutive which may display the account executive(s) currently assignedto the advertiser, Submit Date which may display the request submissiondate, Current Status which may display the request status, and StatusDate which may display the date when status changed. As described above,search results may be organized by clicking on a column's header. Thosehaving skill in the art will also recognize that the column headers mayalso provide a drop-down list that provides various options forfiltering the search results.

The media proposal GUI 70 may also provide advertiser details to theuser utilizing the Approval functionality. An embodiment, the mediaproposal GUI 70 may provide tabs similar to those described above. Themedia proposal GUI 70 may also 6 provide an Assignment Request tab thatmay display current approval status, request details, action notes,assigned users and workflow history. In an embodiment, this tab mayprovide view-only access for account executives. Other users may havemore than view only access, e.g., a sales manager. In embodiment, asales manager may click on an Edit icon that may be provided in order tomake any necessary modifications to the advertiser information on theAssignment Request tab.

In an embodiment, an Assignment Request tab may have a Current Statussection that may display whether the request is approved, pending, ordenied. The Assignment Request tab may also have a Request Detailssection that may display details about the requested advertiser, such asadvertiser name, DUNS number, address, city, State, zip code, country,requesting account executive, status date and any request notes that mayhave been entered by the account executive in requesting the advertiserassignment. In an embodiment, a sales manager may also add anapproval-related note in an Action field. To approve or deny theadvertiser (or agency, as the case may be), a sales manager may click onApprove or Deny icons and may be provided in the toolbar to process therequest. A confirmation message may be provided to the sales manager.Upon approval or denial, a notification may be sent to the requestingaccount executive.

A person skilled in the art will recognize that the approval processmay’ be the same or similar for establishing an agency. A person skilledin the art will also recognize that the tabs on the Advertiser Requestpane may have the same functionality and fields as the AdvertiserDetails or Agency Details panes. A person skilled in the art willrecognize that other searchable fields and functions may be added tofurther automate the sales process wherein the sales manager approves ofan advertiser. A person skilled in the art will also recognize that theAgency Establishment Requests icon may have similar fields and functionsas the Advertiser Assignment Requests icon. Both icons may providemanagers having authority the access necessary for approval of newadvertisers or agencies before continuing on with generating proposalsand taking orders.

In an embodiment, a, sales manager may assign an account executive to anadvertiser without the account executive having requested assignment tothe advertiser. In this embodiment, advertiser search functionality maybe provided to allow a sales manager to search for advertisers usingvarious options. The Search Types drop-down main menu may provide anumber of different search options. An All Advertisers search option maybe provided to list all advertisers in the sales database. An Advertiserby AE may be provided to list all advertisers assigned to the accountexecutives selected from the Advertiser List/Partial Advertiserdrop-down list. A Specific Advertiser search option may be provided tolist a selected advertiser that may be chosen from the AdvertiserList/Partial Advertiser drop-down list. When a search option isselected, a Search icon that may be provided in the toolbar across thetop of the screen may be clicked to process the search.

The search results may appear in the advertiser request search resultspane. To assign an advertiser to an account executive, the sales managermay select an advertiser from the search results list. Then, in theadvertiser details pane 94 under the Assignment Management tab, thesales manager may scroll through a list of account executives and assignthe advertiser to one or more account executives. The advertiser detailspane 94 may also provide a field in which the sales manager may enternotes with respect to an account executive. The advertiser details pane94 may also allow the sales manager to view a history of the variousnotes written for a given account executive.

The user can also use the Move All and Remove icons to assign allaccount executives or remove account executives from an assignment. Allassigned account executives will be listed in the Assigned field. Aftera sales manager finishes assigning account executives to advertiser, thesales manager may click a Submit icon that may be provided in thetoolbar. In an embodiment, a validation message may be provided tonotify the sales manager that the assignment is complete. Because thesales manager have rights to assign advertiser assignments, once submitis the assignment is instantaneous.

A person skilled in the art will recognize that other fields may beincluded for assigning an advertiser, for instance a Group field toallow a team of account executives to be assigned could be added. Aperson skilled in the art will also recognize that the AssignmentManagement tab may also be used in the other Account Management Mainmenu selections.

With reference now to FIG. 11D, shown is an embodiment of a method 550for claiming an existing advertiser account in media proposal system 10.Method 550 may utilize media proposal system GUIs as described herein.Media proposal system 10 receives an account executive request for anaccount assignment, block 552. Media proposal system 10 notifies currentaccount executive that is assigned to that account (i.e., the accountholder), block 554. For example, media proposal system 10 may display amessage or list the requested account in a requiring my attention folderof account executive's media proposal GUI 70 instance. Media proposalsystem 10 forwards the account assignment request to the appropriatesales manager, block 556. For example, media proposal system 10 may listnew customer account under a “Needing My Attention” folder or pane ofsales manager's media proposal GUI 70. Sales manager determines whetherto approve or agree to the account executive's claim, block 558. If not,the sales manager makes an appropriate selection and media proposalsystem 10 sends a rejection to requesting account executive, block 560.If the sales manager agrees to the request, sales manager inputsapproval and media proposal system 10 modifies the advertiser accountrecord, block 562. Media proposal system 10 notifies business manager,block 564, e.g., by removing request from sales manager instance ofmedia proposal GUI 70 and listing new customer account under on businessmanager's media proposal GUI 70. Media proposal system 10 then appendsaccount history, block 566, noting change of account executives. Mediaproposal system 10 may access traffic and billing database to editcustomer record (not shown). In this manner, media proposal system 10synchronizes with traffic and billing system.

With reference now to FIG. 12, shown is an embodiment of a Dun andBradstreet Company Matching window 109. Once an account executive isassigned to an advertiser the account executive may access theadvertiser account via the Advertiser Details screen as discussed above,as the case may be. For unique identification of the advertiser oragency, the account executive may assign a Dun & Bradstreet DUNS numberto the advertiser or agency as noted above. In the embodiment for whichcredit information is provided via Dun & Bradstreet, an advertiser oragency must have a DUNS number in order to retrieve credit information.The credit information may appear on the credit pane 98, in theadvertiser details pane 94 or agency details pane, as the case may be.To do so, the account executive may conduct an advertiser or agencysearch in’ the manner described above, and selected advertiser or agencyfrom the research results list. The account executive may click on aData Clean Up icon in the toolbar of media proposal GUI 70 to open up aDun and Bradstreet Company Matching window 107.

Media proposal system 10 will attempt to match a DUNS to the selectedadvertiser or agency. To narrow the field of search, the accountexecutive may provide a city, state, zip code, county and/or telephonenumber to assist media proposal system 10 in finding a DUNS number thatmatches the selected advertiser or agency. Alternatively, if no matchesare found using the Dun and Bradstreet Company Matching window 107, theaccount executive may remove or add extra spaces between words, removethe City field from the search, or input the Zip field, and then clickon the Search button again. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat many advertisers and agencies have similar names, and matching aDUNS number to a given advertiser or agency may require particularizedsearching. If there is a match or near match, media proposal system 10will provide potential matches in the results field, and the accountexecutive may use a scroll bar to move to the correct account and clickon the account to selected.

Dun and Bradstreet Company Matching window 107 also provides the accountexecutive an option of updating and saving the advertiser or agencyaccount information with the selected DUNS number. Other checkboxes inthe Update Options box may include Update Company Name for updating thecompany name in the sales database, Update Primary Phone, UpdatePhysical Address, and Update Mailing Address that will update therespective fields for the selected account. In an embodiment, this willalso update other systems such as traffic and billing.

Those having skill in the art will appreciate that media proposal system10 may also provide a way to reconcile or purge duplicate advertiser andagency entries, as well as accounts having the same. DUNS number. Forexample, a sales manager may inadvertently enter the same DUNS numberfor multiple accounts. In an embodiment, Fusion provides foridentification and automatic reconciliation of DUNS number duplication.

In an embodiment, the sales manager may resolve duplicate entriesthrough either the Advertisers or Agencies items on toolbar of media’proposal GUI 70. The sales manager may then access a window (not shown)that provides search fields with which the sales manager may Search bycompany name and address, or Search by DUNS #. In this embodiment, theaccounts that have the same DUNS number are displayed with the followingcolumns of information: a DUNS # column, a Company column that displaysthe name of the advertiser or agency, a traffic and billing system ID(e.g., a VIERO® ID) column that displays the ID given to the account bythe traffic and billing system, and the Active column that will bechecked if the account is active. Duplicate accounts, for example, maybe unnecessary, and may be deactivated. As noted above, a sales managermay check or uncheck the accounts in the Active column to make themactive or inactive.

After the search for duplicate advertisers, agencies, or DUNS # iscomplete, the sales manager may click an OK button and a validationmessage may appear giving the list of all accounts that have beendeactivated. In an embodiment, the accounts that have been deactivatedfrom the Active column will no longer appear in active account searches.Only those users with permission will be able to view deactivatedaccounts. Once advertisers and agencies have been matched to their DUNSnumbers, the sales manager may deactivate accounts that are out ofbusiness. When an account has been deactivated, the Account Deactivationdate is set to the current date and the account is no longer availablefor account executives to access.

Media proposal system 10 may provide other ways for a sales manager oraccount executive to deactivate an account. In another embodiment, asales manager or business manager may deactivate an account by selectingthe Advertisers or Agencies items on toolbar of media proposal GUI 70.Through an advertiser details or agency details window, such as thosedescribed herein, the account manager can conduct an Advertiser orAgency search as described above. In the advertiser search results oragency search results panes (such as described herein), sales orbusiness manager may highlight the account and then click the Deactivateicon in the toolbar. A confirmation message may appear to confirmdeactivation. The manager may then click an OK button to deactivate theaccount, or click a Cancel button to discontinue the deactivation. Oncean account is deactivated in media proposal system 10, it will no longerbe available for account executives to access. A sales or businessmanager may reactivate an account. In an embodiment, an accountexecutive may submit a request that an agency or advertiser account bereactivated, or that a new account be added for an agency or advertiser.

A person skilled in the art will recognize that the “Agencies” selectionon toolbar of media proposal GUI 70 may have the same or similar fields,functions, process flow, notifications and panes as the “Advertisers”selection described above.

Generation of advertising proposals may follow a typical process used bymedia outlets in selling advertising time or space. Media proposals for,e.g., radio, may contain 6 time period definitions, day and daypartidentifiers, product type, availability as defined from the traffic andbilling system, e.g., VIERO® RMS, and a billing rate as may be definedby a pricing engine (e.g., BestRate), audience delivery analysis as maybe defined by an audience ratings engine, and order definitions as maybe required by the traffic and billing system. Once media proposals arecreated, workflow may be applied according to the media proposal system10 user's selling model. The proposals that may appear across workflowin a similar manner to email in a “requiring my attention” inbox wherethey can be accepted or rejected by the account executive. Proposals maybe directed at placing a single advertisement/spot, a campaign involvingthe single advertisement/spot (multiple placements of the sameadvertisement/spot), a campaign of related advertisement˜/spots, etc.Those having skill in the art will recognize that the proposal approvalprocess may be multistage. In one stage, the client (e.g., theadvertiser or agency) may be required to approve a proposal before theproposal is made available for approval by a media outlet (e.g., radiostation) manager.

With reference now to FIGS. 13A-D, shown are embodiments and panes ofproposals window 110 (e.g., media proposal GUI 70 with proposalfunctionality selected—see FIG. 4A) through which a user may create,edit and view proposals and proposals' status. An account executive mayselect the Proposals item from the main menu 72 (e.g., toolbar on mediaproposal GUI 70), and be provided with an interface for proposals, suchas seen in FIGS. 13A-C. As with other data and records used anddescribed herein, the proposals and the data entered the proposals asdescribed herein may be stored in and retrieved from media advertisingdatabase 14.

In an embodiment, when a user clicks the Proposals item from the mainmenu, status folders pane 112 and proposal search pane 114 of proposalswindow 110 (e.g., in upper left side 76 of media proposal GUI 70) may beprovided for further user interaction. An account executive may use thestatus folders pane 112 to view proposals that may be in various stages.For example, proposals may be provided in a status “tree” in whichproposals may be grouped by status. A user may click on a folder in the“tree” to view the proposals contained therein.

Also, a user may type a keyword into the proposal search pane 114 andclick a search icon from the toolbar to search for one or moreparticular proposals. The results of such a search may be provided insearch results pane similar to that described above. The user may thenclick to select a particular proposal and view its proposal schedule andorder details.

In an embodiment, the user may view the contents of a folder or searchresults in my proposals pane 116, such as that shown in FIG. 13A. Myproposals pane 116 is accessed by selecting My Proposals in statusfolders pane 112. As shown, my proposals pane 116 displays a list of allof the user's proposals, with columns of information about each proposallisted (such as, e.g., proposal status, title, advertiser, traffic andbilling system order number (if injected), agency and/or representativefirm (if applicable), grade, total cost, scheduled date, date modified,etc. A user may sort the columns (i.e., sort the proposals by theproposal information in each column) in ascending or descending order byclicking the column head. A user may select a proposal and view and/oredit its schedule on a proposal schedule pane (e.g., see FIG. 13C) byclicking on a proposal schedule tab. A user may also click on an orderdetails tab in a separate pane to view and edit billing, e-invoicing,routing and sales competition information for a selected proposal.

As shown in FIG. 13A, proposals window 110 includes a proposal detailspane 115 that displays details regarding the media proposal selected inthe my proposals pane 116. Proposal details pane 115 lists variousproposal schedule details under a proposals schedule tab. Proposaldetails pane 115 also includes an order details tab that includesadditional details about the selected media proposal.

With reference now to FIG. 13A, shown is proposals window 110 of mediaproposal GUI 70 with Pending by Client selected in status folders pane112. As such, proposals window 110 displays a pending by client pane 118instead of my proposals pane 116. The pending by client pane 118illustrates pending proposals organized by client. In the example shown,there are no pending proposals. Selecting other options in statusfolders pane 112, such as Requiring my Attention, Pending Proposals,Drafts, Pending by Management, Resolved, Won, Lost and Canceled, willcause proposals window 110 to display corresponding panes withcorresponding proposals (e.g., proposals requiring account executive's(or other user's) attention, pending proposals, draft proposals, pendingby management proposals (with sales, business or traffic managersawaiting approval), resolved, won, lost and canceled proposals for theaccount executive (or other use)).

In an embodiment, an account executive may create and send proposals toprospective advertisers and agencies. In an embodiment, proposals window110 may provide a toolbar to assist an account executive in navigatingand executing the proposal process. To create a new proposal, an accountexecutive or other user may click on a New icon that may be provided inthe toolbar. Upon doing so, a proposal schedule pane may become visible.

With reference now to FIG. 13C, shown is proposal schedule window 117(as with other panes and windows described herein, proposal schedulewindow 117 may be a pane on another window, such as proposals window110, or a separate window). Proposal schedule window 117 may appearsimilar to proposal schedule tab in proposal details pane 115. Anaccount executive may interact with the proposal schedule pane 117 tofill in the details, parameters, goals, etc., of the proposal. In anembodiment, a user of media proposal system 10 may provide a title for aproposal, associate an advertiser or agency with the proposal (e.g.,from a drop-down list), and assign a grade to the proposal. In anembodiment, a proposal grade may be the account executive's estimationof the likelihood that the proposal will result in an order.Alternatively, media proposal system 10 may automatically grade theproposal based on various factors, such as past proposal fulfillment(buys) history of advertiser, how well proposal meets advertiser'srequirements, etc. Grades are made available, as part of proposalhistories, to other users, such as sales managers, business managers andtraffic managers for review. A manager may view the assigned grade whenreviewing a proposal for approval. When reviewing a proposal, a managermay adjust the grade by selecting on the grade in the proposal.

Also, a user may provide a contact for-the advertiser or agency. Afterproposal data is entered, an account executive or other user may clickon Save or Save As icons that may be provided in the toolbar ofproposals window 110 (or proposal schedule pane 117). Those skilled inthe art will recognize that the media proposal system 10 mayautomatically populate the fields for which information has already beenprovided in another part of media proposal GUI 70, for example, in theGeneral tab of the Advertiser Details or Agency Details panes.

Upon creation of the new proposal, an account executive may view the newproposal by clicking on the appropriate folders in the “tree”, that maybe provided in status folders pane 112. In an embodiment, an accountexecutive may view and access for editing the new proposal in the Draftsfolder depending from the Pending Proposals branch of the “tree” ofproposals window 110, In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 permitsaccount executives to copy a proposal from one advertiser to another,and to edit existing proposals using an Edit icon that may be providedin the toolbar depicted in FIGS. 13A-13C.

With continuing reference to FIG. 13C, media proposal system 10 may alsoprovide within the proposal schedule pane 117 additional fields in whichan account executive may add desired demographic information. Forexample, Gender fields may be provided wherein an account executive maydefine the target audience as Persons, Men, —Women, and further define apreferred start age and end age for the demographic as defined by arating service (e.g., years old as shown). In an embodiment, choosingthe plus sign (+) for the demographic end age indicates the demographicage ranges from the beginning age selected to all following ages. Otherfields may include a Book field that allows the user to choose thebooking period for the demographic. A Market field may be provided thatallows the user to choose a target market for booking the advertising.This selection may cause listing of media outlets, e.g., stations, forthat market to be displayed in proposal schedule pane 117. The mediaoutlets may be displayed as lines 119 (see below) that may be edited(e.g., by user clicking on various fields described herein) to create anorder line for the media advertising proposal or deleted if the userdoes not want to include the media outlet in the media advertisingproposal. A quantitative field may be provided so that the accountexecutive may target the audience for the advertising based on a set ofpredefined categories such as, e.g., college-educated and earning $60Kper year, or other similarly demographics-based categories. A cost perpoint (“CPP”) Goal field may be provided so that an account executivemay estimate or provide the cost goal (e.g., in dollars) of achieving anumber of impressions (e.g., listeners, click-throughs, viewers, views,readers, web page downloads, etc.) equivalent to one percent of thepopulation in a given demographic group. A cost per thousand (“CPM”)Goal field maybe provided so that an account executive may estimate orprovide the cost goal (e.g., in dollars) per thousand impressions. Aweekly gross rating points (“GRPs”) Goal field may also be provided sothat an account executive may estimate or provide the sum goal (e.g., inpositive integers) of all rating points achieved for a particular spotschedule. Those having skill in the art will understand that GRPs may becalculated by multiplying the average number of persons listening duringa 15-minute period by the number of spots in the advertiser's schedule(i.e., average quarter-hour (“AQH”) times the number of spots in anadvertising schedule). Those having skill in the art will alsounderstand that additional goal fields that relate to a measure of anadvertisement's reach and effectiveness, and other parameter fields forproposal, may be used.

In an embodiment, the media proposal system 10 may provide various lines119 (generally referred to as order lines or flight lines) with fieldsor columns of information, in proposal schedule pane 117 or other GUI,in which to a user enter details of the proposal. Order lines 119 maycorrespond to media outlets available for proposal (e.g., correspondingto market selected or otherwise chosen by user for proposal). Orderlines 119 for each available media outlet may automatically populateproposal schedule pane 117 or chosen from a list by user. In theembodiment shown, an order line 119 (e.g., for a radio advertisement)may include fields for media outlet (e.g., station) identification(Station), advertising campaign start date (Start Date), advertisingcampaign end date (End Date), the number of weeks that the advertisementis to run (Wks), the length of the advertisement (Len), the type ofadvertisement (Type), the schedule (e.g., time of day), miscellaneousrevenue, and special events that the advertisement may be linked orbound to (Bind To), the number of advertisements to run each day of thedefined period of time (Spots}, which days of the week theadvertisements are to run (M, Tu, W, Th, F, Sa, Su), the AQH rating (AQHRtg), the advertisement rate (Rate), the total cost for the advertisingrun (i.e., Rate×Spots×Wks) (Cost), the GRPs (GRPs) and CPP (CPP), theAQH (AQH), the percent of the market population that an advertisement isreaching (%. Mkt), and the number of times a person is exposed to anadvertisement (Freq). The advertisement rate (Rate) is what the accountexecutive, or other user, will pitch to the advertising customer. Theaccount executive enters or selects data/information for certain fields,such as Start Date, End Date, Wks, Len, Type, Spots, Bind To, time ofday, days, ACQ Rtg, Rate, GRP, CPP, AQH, % Mkt and Freq (Cost iscalculated from the Rate, Spots and Wks). ACQ Rtg, GRP, CPP, AQH, % Mktand Freq. are the goals that the account executive, or other user, andthe customer set and agree to for the proposal.

When the proposal is injected as an order, how well these goals are metis evaluated to determine the performance of the advertising in theorder. As described below, this evaluation may be used to providefeedback to the media proposal system 10 in order to revise the proposalto better meet these goals.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that another mediaadvertisement may have different, similar, less and additionalfields/columns. Likewise, order line 119 may include a field forspecifying the media type so that appropriate media outlets are shownfor selection.

With continuing reference to FIG. 13C, in an embodiment, if requestedinventory is greater than available inventory, the Spots field in theorder line 119 of scheduled proposals shown in proposal schedule window117 that is “oversold” may turn red or otherwise be colored, shaded orhighlighted (see indicated by shading of spots field for third order).If a parent row contains one or more child rows that are oversold, butthe parent row itself is not oversold, the parent row's Spots field mayturn yellow-orange or otherwise be colored, shaded or highlighted. Inthis case, the “floor” of the inventory progress bar described below mayturn red (see FIG. 14A). Allowing the cursor of a pointer device (e.g.,a mouse), used to interact with media proposal GUI 70, to touch or reston the order line of a media outlet (i.e., “mousing” over order line)causes media proposal system 10 to display exact advertisingavailability information for media outlet. In an embodiment, theavailability information will be provided as a popup window or bubbleabove order line. In an embodiment, the exact number of available weeks,days and dayparts (or other portions of days) for the media outlet inthe order line may be shown. For other media outlets, such asperiodicals, billboards, etc., the exact number and, e.g., size or otherrelevant information, of advertising spaces, weeks and days (or, e.g.,issues) available may be displayed. If flight lines are displayed andmoused over, the aggregate of this information may be displayed. Mediaproposal system 10 may retrieve the information from, e.g., traffic andbilling system.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that some fields mayautomatically populate based on data entered into other fields. Forexample, the Wks field may automatically report the length of theadvertising campaign in number of weeks when the end date is entered.Conversely, the End Date field may populate automatically if a number isentered into the Wks field. Those having skill in the art will alsorecognize that 33 the fields may provide various options throughdrop-down menus or lists. For example, the Len field may provide adrop-down list of default settings for 2, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 and 90minute advertisement lengths. The Type field may provide a drop-downlist from which an account executive may select D (daypart), M(miscellaneous revenue) or S (special event). Those having skill in theart will recognize that the AQHrating provides the average quarter hourrating based on the average number of persons listening to a particularstation, and may be expressed as a percentage of the population beingmeasured (e.g., AQH/Population×100=AQH Rating (%)). The AQH is theaverage number of persons listening to a particular station for at leastfive minutes during a 15-minute period. A station may calculate the AQHrating for special events in order to calculate audience figures thatmay not be provided by a third-party reporting service such as Audiencedelivery.

With continuing reference to FIG. 13C, in an embodiment, a Duplicatebutton may be provided in the proposal schedule window 117 so that anaccount executive may 14 specify how many copies of the selected flightline the user wants to make. A Delete button may be provided so that anaccount executive may delete a selected line, and a Refresh Rates buttonmay be provided so that an account executive may refresh the proposalrates for the current demand rates as provided by the yield managementsystem. In essence, this unfreezes the rates of the current proposal andupdates the rates best on the yield management system calculations(e.g., of the Best Rate available). When rates are refreshed for a mediaproposal, media proposal system 10 retrieves the current rates from theyield management system (see, e.g., block 54 in method 40 of FIG. 3).

In an embodiment, an account executive may click on the History & Notesicon that may be provided in the toolbar 74 on media proposal GUI 70 toopen a History & Notes window to add information about the proposal. Anaccount executive may type information in the New Note field and thenclick the Add Note button. When the account executive is finished addingnotes, the Done button may be clicked to close the window, and theaccount executive may click on a Save icon that may be provided in thetoolbar to save the notes.

In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 allows an account executiveor other user to submit a completed proposal to a client (e.g., anadvertiser or agency) by clicking on a Send icon that may be provided inthe toolbar of proposals window 110 or proposal schedule window 117. Inan embodiment, sending the proposal to a client may automatically changethe proposal status from Pending to Pending Approval By Client. Anaccount executive may click on a Send icon that may be provided in thetoolbar to access a drop-down menu from which an Email to Client optionmay be chosen. If Email to Client option is chosen, a separate Email toClient window may open.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 13A-13D, an account executive maythen click on a Send icon, in the toolbar 74 of proposals window 110 orproposal schedule window 117, to email the proposal. Two drop-down listsare available in an Email to Client window, including the Proposal Typeand the Logo lists. The Proposal Type menu may provide the accountexecutive an option of inputting the intended party proposal type, andthe Logo menu may provide the account executive the option of attachinga radio station or other corporate logo to the email. Various proposaltypes include proposals with ratings, without ratings and custom built.Proposals with ratings contain audience delivery metrics and generallyare meant for advertising campaigns that need the goals defined againstaudience delivery. Proposals without ratings have just quantity andpricing for the order lines and are meant for advertising campaigns thatare broad in product (e.g., Streaming+Terrestrial+Co-op, etc.) or havevalue outside of reach and frequency. Custom reports allow the user toselect from every data point available in media proposal system 10 andbuild the proposal to their liking. Those having skill in the art willalso recognize that other proposal types may be defined.

Those having skill in the art will also recognize that an accountexecutive may also attach other files to email. For example, an accountexecutive may attach a “one sheet” summary of the proposal, or otherattachments. The toolbar may provide a One Sheets icon to allow a userto attach station marketing material to be supplied to the customer; andmay also provide a Logos icon to allow the user to attach a logo to anemailed or printed proposal: Those having skill in the art will alsorecognize that a Print icon, in toolbar of proposals window 110 orproposal schedule window 117, may be provided on the toolbar to allow auser to print a proposal, attachments or various reports as describedbelow. For example, a user may print out a proposal. FIG. 13Eillustrates an excerpt of a printed sample proposal.

With regard to logos, a user may generate a company logo to add to theproposal. To add a logo, a user may click on a Logos icon in the toolbarof proposals window 110 or proposal schedule window 117, whereupon alist of logos or a logos administration window may be displayed. In anembodiment, the logos administration window enables the user to create,upload or select a company logo to add to the proposal. A user maycreate a logo or provide a path to where the logo is stored, e.g., inthe media proposal database or local hard drive. In an embodiment, alogo may be affixed to a proposal to better identify the proposal with aparticular radio station.

When client approval has been obtained, an account executive may thensubmit the proposal for management approval. As also may be discussedabove, media proposal system 10 may be used to automate the proposalprocess by allowing an account executive to submit a proposalelectronically to the appropriate managers. In an embodiment, once anaccount executive has created a proposal that is approved by the client,he or she submits it to the sales manager for approval. After a salesmanager reviews the proposal, the sales manager may either reject it orapprove and submit it to a business manager and a traffic manager forfurther approval.

With continuing reference to FIGS. 13A-13D, as noted above, an accountexecutive may save a draft of a proposal for later submission forapproval Alternatively, an account executive may delay submitting aclient-approved proposal to a manager for approval. If, for’ example, anaccount executive wishes to submit a client-approved proposal to amanager for approval, the account manager may select a proposal from aPending By Client folder in the manner described above. The accountexecutive may then click on a Submit icon that may be provided in thetoolbar 74. In an embodiment, an account executive submits proposals toa sales manager for approval. The sales manager may reject the mediaproposal, requesting changes from the account executive. After approval,the sales manager submits the media proposal to a business manager forapproval. The business manager may reject the media proposal; requestingchanges from the account executive. After approval, the business managersubmits to a traffic manager for approval and insertion into traffic andbilling system as an order. The Submit icon may be provided with adrop-down list with a Submit to SM (i.e., sales manager) selection. Ifan account executive clicks on the Submit to SM selection, a new windowenabling submission to a sales manager may be displayed.

Once submitted, embodiments of media proposal system 10 require that allmedia proposals be acted upon. In other words, a submitted proposal mustbe accepted, rejected or canceled, as described herein. If a salesmanager or other manager cancels a media proposal, a written reason forcancellation must be submitted.

Similar to the History & Notes functionality described above, an accountexecutive may add notes to a media proposal submitted to a sales managerin a History & Notes field. Such notes may be those provided by anaccount executive, notes based on discussions with a sales manager, ornotes from another user about the media proposal. A new note may beadded by typing text in the New Note field and then clicking the AddNote button. An account executive may select a sales manager to whichthe media proposal is to be routed from the Choose Sales Managerdrop-down list. After changes are made to the Submit to SM window, theaccount executive can click the Submit button. The media proposal'sstatus in media proposal system 10 will change to Pending Approval by SMand the media proposal will appear in the sales manager's Requiring MyAttention folder.

With reference again to FIGS. 13A-13C, in an embodiment, proposalswindow 110 and/or proposal schedule window 117 may provide an AdditionalInformation button that the user may click on to retrieve additionalinformation about typical account executive, agency or advertiser rates,and about further details on the order line set up, rates and mediaoutlet advertising space availability (e.g., radio station airtimeinventory).

With reference now to FIG. 13D, shown is another embodiment of proposalschedule pane 117 of proposals window 110 that includes Best Rateinformation. The Best Rate information shown in FIG. 13D will not beshown to the customer or included in the media advertising proposal sentto the customer. In an embodiment, the Best Rate information shown isonly displayed on proposal schedule pane 117 viewed by managers (e.g.,sales manager, business manager and/or traffic manager) so they canevaluate whether proposal meets Best Rate and how well account executiveis performing under that metric. The advertisement rate (Rate) is whatthe account executive, or other user, pitches to the customer (asmentioned above) and is included in the media advertising proposal sentto the customer. Ideally, the account executive will want to pitch at orabove the Best Rate to ensure that the station, enterprise, etc.,financial goals are met.

Proposal schedule pane 117 includes, in setup area, a Best Rateadherence indication (“Adherence Met”). The Best Rate adherenceindicates whether the Best Rate amount is met by the proposal. Utilizingthe functionality of a yield management system connected to mediaproposal system 10 (e.g., see Best Rate applications), the Best Rate forthe proposal is calculated. This calculation may use various inputs froma yield management system as well as other inputs as described herein.The “Best Rate” for any order line or for the overall proposal is afunction of meeting the pricing goals as defined by the yield managementsystem. The Best Rates provide the pricing goals for an order line andfor the overall proposal. The media proposal system 10 uses the BestRates as data points through the proposal and subsequent order processto ensure the orders, when sold, follow management's pricing directivesbased on demand. The account executive, and/or other users, are givenfinancial incentives for adhering to these goals (i.e., for meeting theBest Rates). The Adherence Met ‘provides an immediate indication of theBest Rate being met. If the Best Rate is not met, the Best Rateadherence indication states this failure. The Best Rate adherenceindication may also indicate the adherence amount (what the overall Costfor the proposal would have to be to meet Best Rate (see below)). Theoverall Cost of the proposal may be calculated by totaling the Cost forall of the order lines. These totals may be weighted, as describedbelow, for different media types (see, e.g., FIG. 23) in order toprovide a like values comparison.

As shown, the order lines 119 of the proposal have additional columnsindicating the current Best Rate and Best Rate Cost for each order line119 of the proposal. The Best Rate indicates the pricing goal (i.e.,ideal advertising rate (Rate)) for the given order line. The Best RateCost indicates what the cost of the order line would be if the Best Ratewere met, and is calculated as number of spots in the order line (Spots)6 multiplied by number of weeks in the order line (Wks) multiplied bythe Best Rate. For example, in the 1st order line shown in FIG. 13D, theBest Rate is $299, the number of spots is and the number of weeks is 1.Accordingly, the Best Rate Cost is $598. By comparing to the Rate, $305,and Cost, $610, it is seen that the 1st order line meets the Best Rate(actually, it exceeds the Best Rate). On the contrary, the 2nd orderline, with a Best Rate of $251 and a Best Rate Cost of $15 (3(Spots)×(Wks)×$251), does not meet the Best Rate because its Rate is$240 and Cost is $1440. The overall proposal has a Best Rate Cost of$2,196 (sum of Best Rate Costs for 1st-3rd order lines), which is shownin the Best Rate Adherence Amount. The overall Cost of the proposal is$2150 (sum of Costs for st-3rd order lines); hence, the Best Rate is notmet for the proposal.

With continuing reference to FIG. 13D, the additional lines at’ thebottom of the proposal schedule pane 117. The top two lines are weeklyratings (ACH Rtg, CPP, AQH, % Mkt, Freq) total for the stations shown inthe order lines 119. The third line totals both stations weekly ratingstotal. These lines allow the user to enter a mixture of order lines 119for various weeks, flights, and other parameters and then see for anaverage week what ratings they will achieve for the station, enterprise,etc. These weekly ratings total lines may be color-coded (e.g., green).The bottom line shows that proposal totals. The min. start date (StartDate) and max end date (End Date) are used to depict the total durationof the proposal. The number of weeks (Wk) is the calculated total ofweeks in the proposal. The Cost is the total cost for the proposal. Thetotal ratings for the proposal are also shown. As shown, additionalinformation pane may also be displayed with proposal schedule pane 117.

With reference now to FIG. 14A-B, shown is additional information paneor window 130, which provides additional information that is useful fora user. In an embodiment, clicking on the Additional Information buttonmay cause the additional information pane 130 to open up to the right ofthe order or flight line. Additional information pane 130 includes agraphical inventory progress bar 132. Inventory progress bar or pill 132provides a graphical representation of the advertising inventory and itsstatus. Advertising inventory is the spots made available foradvertisers to placed advertisements.’ Inventory progress bar 132 maydepict inventory information for inventory available from a single mediasource, from multiple media sources, from a single media type, frommultiple media types, etc.

In an embodiment, additional information pane 130 and inventory progressbar 132 include information regarding best rate and inventory. Theinventory’ progress bar 132 depicted shows the total airtime inventory(e.g., radio, television, broadband media’ airtime available foradvertising). Inventory progress pill 132 may show print, webpage, sign,billboard, etc. advertising space availability, or various combinationsof these and airtime inventory. The inventory progress bar may providevisual feedback of the total inventory available, inventory sold,inventory requested and available inventory for the selected order line.The entire bar may represent the total airtime inventory. The inventoryprogress bar may be color-coded. For example, the color blue (shown asdarkest shade) in the left portion of the bar may indicate soldinventory. The color: green (shown as medium shade) in the middle-rightportion of the bar may indicate requested inventory. Non-colored, oropen space in the bar may indicate available inventory. The color redfilling the bar and a red “floor” (or background area on which the barrests) may indicate that the requested inventory is greater thanavailable inventory. In one embodiment, a user may place a cursor over asection of the bar to display values for the properties graphicallydisplayed by the bar. See FIGS. 14C-14G, with more description ofinventory progress pill 132.

With continuing reference to FIG. 14A, those having skill in the artwill recognize that “best rate” may refer to the highest rate for whichan advertisement may be sold under the proposal. The Best Rate field inthe additional information pane 130 may provide the dollar amount of thepreferred rate, the Best Rate Met field may indicate whether the bestrate has been met for the proposal, the Traffic Avails field mayindicate current available inventory (i.e., total inventory minusscheduled inventory, where total inventory indicates total number ofspots or advertising placements available prior to scheduling andscheduled inventory equals number of spots or advertising placementsfilled by ordered and booked advertising), the Traffic Sold % field mayindicate the percentage of spots sold (i.e., calculated as scheduledinventory divided by total inventory (or scheduled inventory/scheduledinventory plus current available inventory) times 100), the Actual” AUR(i.e., average unit rate) field may indicate average unit rate (i.e.,revenue sold divided by spots sold), and the Actual AMR (i.e.; averageminute rate) field may indicate average minutes rate (i.e., revenuesdivided by minutes sold).

In an embodiment, with respect to ratings, the % Weight field mayindicate the total number of advertisements/spots aired (oradvertisement placements) divided by total rate dollars and may beadjusted for special events, the GI field indicates gross impressions,the Cume Rtg. (i.e., cumulative rating) field may indicate the ratingsmeasurements based on the number of different people who have sampledthe media outlet (e.g., the Cume rating may be expressed as a percentageof all persons estimated to be in specified demographic groups, and maybe expressed as a percentage: Cumulative persons/population×100=rating(%)), the Net Reach field may indicate the number of individuals reachedat least once in a given schedule, the CPMNR (i.e., cost per thousandnet reach measurement) field may indicate the cost per thousand netreach measurement (e.g., for Internet-based radio), and the Cume (i.e.,cumulative) field may indicate the cumulative audience or number ofdifferent people who have sampled a media outlet or program (e.g., thetotal number of different persons who tune into a ‘radio station;internet radio or television station during the course of a daypart forat least five minutes). Those skilled in the art will recognize that CPMrefers to Cost per Thousand, or the cost of delivering 1,000 grossimpressions, and that Net Reach refers to the number of differentpersons ‘reached in a given schedule. Gross Impressions refers to thesum of all AQH audience persons for all spots in a given schedule.

In an embodiment, to produce a more accurate rate for certain mediaoutlets (e.g., radio, television, newspapers, internet radio, etc.),Best Rate may be weighted by the day selected, the rates for those days,and the number of spots. If weeks are skipped, the weighted rate alsotakes into account which weeks are selected. For example, if an accountexecutive selects two spots on Friday at $50 per spot, spots on Saturdayat $2 per spot, and spots on Sunday at $2 per spot:

DAYS SPOTS RATE TOTAL Friday  2 $50.00 $100.00 Saturday 10  $2.00 $20.00 Sunday 10  $2.00  $20.00

Best Rate takes into account the rates on Saturday and Sunday incomparison to the higher-priced Friday rates. A straight average wouldresult in an $18 best rate (($50+$2+$2)/3); however, a weighted averagewould result in a $6.36 best rate (total number of spots (22) divided bytotal rate dollars ($140)). Therefore, if the account executive selectsmore spots to run on Friday and fewer spots to run on either Saturday orSunday, the weighted rate will rise. In an embodiment, averages areweighted based on beginning inventory. Accordingly, if one (1) spotexists at $1000 on Saturday and spots exists at $100 on Sunday, the one(1) spot on Saturday will not have an equal influence on the average dueto the probability of one in eleven (1 in 11) that the $1000 spot willbe filled in a Saturday-Sunday rotator. See the Best Rate applicationsfor exemplary methods and systems for calculating and ensuring BestRate.

With reference to FIG. 14B, in an embodiment, if the selected order linein FIG. 13C is for miscellaneous revenue, the additional informationpane 130 may further provide information about the account executivecommission rate (“AE %”) and agency commission rate (“Agency %”). Thoseskilled in the art will recognize miscellaneous revenue is everythingexcept traditional advertising/spot revenue—terrestrial or streamingcommercial inventory (e.g., a live appearance by a media entertainer ora coupon campaign). In an embodiment, the AE % and Agency<‘10 fieldsreflect the default commission rates set in media proposal system 10,and only a business manager may have permission to change these rates.In the example shown in FIG. 14B, the account executive commission rateis 0% and the agency commission rate is 15% of the amount paid by theadvertiser for each advertisement placed by the agency (the spot rate).

In yet another embodiment, if the selected order line is bound to adaypart or a special event, the additional information pane 130 maydisplay advertisement type and break type information (not shown). Auser may click on a fighting field in additional information pane 130 toview and modify fighting information. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that flighting generally refers to the timing pattern forrunning advertisements at different intervals. The additionalinformation pane 130 may provide a drop-down menu that allows users toset flight week functions, and may provide the user a further way tomodify flighting information.

Once the account executive, or other user, has submitted aclient-accepted media proposal, the sales manager may then use mediaproposal system 10 to review the media proposal and determine whataction needs to be taken. In an embodiment, proposals may be initiallyreviewed by sales managers, and then reviewed by business managersand/or traffic managers. Media proposals may be rejected by the client(in which case they are “resolved” and classified as lost or canceled),rejected by management, recalled for additional changes, or approved andinjected automatically by media proposal system 10: into a traffic andbilling system (e.g., VIERO® RMS) (i.e., media proposal is sent totraffic and billing system for scheduling and airing by media outlet).

In an embodiment, a sales manager, business manager, or traffic managermay approve a proposal by using the media proposal GUI 70. Such a’ usermay approve a proposal by accessing the proposals window 110 and thensearching through the Status Folders. A Requiring My Attention foldermay be provided in the Status Folders tree for access by a manager forreview and approval of pending’ proposals submitted for approval. Amanager may also use a Submit icon that may be provided in the toolbar74 of proposals window 110, and, through a drop-down menu, click on anitem that may allow submission to another manager. For example, a salesmanager may click on a Submit to BM (i.e., business manager) or Submitto TM (i.e., traffic manager) selection in the drop-down menu, in whichevent a Submit to BM or Submit to TM window may open. Likewise, forexample, a business manager may click on the Submit to TM selection tosubmit a proposal to a traffic manager for approval.

In an embodiment, the Submit to BM window may provide similarfunctionality to the Submit to SM window discussed above, and a Submitto TM window may also provide similar functionality. For example, amanager may select a business manager or sales manager from a Choosemanager drop-down list. After changes are made to the Submit to BM orSubmit to TM window, the manager may click the Submit button. Forexample, if a business manager submits a proposal to a traffic managerfor approval, the proposal's status will change to “Pending Approval byTM” and the proposal will appear in the traffic manager's Requiring MyAttention folder.

In addition to displaying a media proposal's current status, embodimentsof media proposal system 10 store every media proposal's completehistory. Consequently, when a media proposal appears on proposals window110, for example in the Requiring My Attention folder, a user may clickon the proposal to see the proposal's history. A transaction manager mayview a proposal requiring the transaction manager's attention and clickon the proposal to cause the proposals window 110 to display theproposal's history, e.g., any notes attached to the proposal by any user(e.g., account executive, sales manager, business manager, etc.), whenthe proposal was created, when the proposal was submitted to the salesmanager, when the proposal was approved by sales manager and submittedto the business manager and when the proposal was approved by businessmanager and submitted to the traffic manager. In embodiments, proposalswindow 110 may display the proposal history as a column item in thelisting of the proposal (e.g., in the Requiring My Attention listing).Proposals window 110 may also provide history indicating when a proposalhas been previously rejected and modified.

To reject a proposal, a manager can select a Reject icon that may beprovided in the toolbar of proposals window 110 to open a Reject window.The rejecting manager may add notes as in the Submit to BM window, andmay click on a Reject icon that may be provided in the toolbar to returnthe proposal to the account executive for rework. A manager may alsoclick on a Recall icon that may be provided in the toolbar to pull aproposal out of the workflow and return it to the manager's Requiring MyAttention folder, or the manager may click on a Resolve icon that may beprovided in the toolbar to move the proposal to Lost or Canceledfolders. In an embodiment, when resolving conflicts, media proposalsystem 10 may automatically readjust the score of the media proposal (areflection of the probability of closing a rejected proposal as anorder) to 0%.

The media proposal system 10’ may also allow a traffic manager to injecta proposal into a traffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS) byselecting a proposal from the listed proposals in the Status Folders,clicking the Submit icon on the toolbar 74 of the proposals window 110,and clicking on an Inject selection that injects the proposal as anorder into the traffic and billing system (e.g., a Inject into VIEROselection) that may be provided in a drop-down main menu, or clicking ona Inject and Book selection that may also be provided in a drop-downmenu. In an embodiment, clicking on such a selection causes˜Injectwindow or pane (not shown) to be displayed.

In an embodiment, the Inject window may provide similar functionality tothe Submit to SM window discussed above. For example, a user may inputnotes in the New Note field, click the Add Note button, and then clickthe Inject button to inject the order into the traffic and billingsystem. In an embodiment, an Inject Order confirmation messagedisplaying the new order number may be provided.

With reference now to FIGS. 14C-14G, shown are diagrams illustratingvarious implementations of inventory progress bar or pill 132. Thediagrams illustrate inventory progress bar 132 illustrating differentamounts of inventory. The inventory progress bars 132 shown in FIGS.14C-14G may appear in additional information pane 130, as shown in FIG.14A, as a separate GUI, or other GUI of media proposal system 10. Withreference now to FIG. 14C, shown is inventory progress bar 132 with nobands or coloring. This indicates that no advertising spot or placementinventory has been consumed. This means that the media outlet (orcombination of media outlets) for which the media proposal system 10instance is being used have maximum availability for placingadvertisements. As shown, inventory progress bar 132 also has anaccompanying progress bar floor 1320 that provides further information.The lighter shaded floor 1320 shown in FIG. 14C indicates that there areno “oversold” conditions either at the order line level or flight level.Those skilled in the art would recognize flighting or flight level asthe higher level advertisement placement to achieve the overall goals ofthe campaign. Flighting might be, e.g., alternating weeks ofadvertising. Orderline level is the lower level individual advertisementplacements in an ad campaign. The progress bar floor 1320 may becolor-coded to provide a clearer visual indication of this status (e.g.,light blue or green to indicate no oversold conditions). In theembodiments shown, progress bar floor 1320 overlaps a portion of theprogress bar 132.

With reference now to FIG. 14D, shown is inventory progress bar 132indicating that some inventory has been consumed. Consumed band 1322 isdarker shaded band that graphically indicates how much inventory iscurrently consumed (by submitted, booked and scheduled orders) relativeto total inventory (remaining portion of inventory progress bar 132).Consumed band 1322 may be color-coded to provide a clearer indication(e.g., consumed band 1322 may be blue). As shown here, a little overapproximately 50% of the media outlet(s) inventory is consumed. Proposalband 1324 indicates how much additional inventory the current media‘proposal would consume if approved, injected, booked and scheduled.Proposal band 1324 is typically a lighter shade than consumed band 1322.Proposal band 1324 may also be color-coded to provide 26’ a clearerindication (e.g., proposal band 1322 may be mustard colored). As shownhere, current proposal would consume an additional approximately 10% ofmedia outlet(s) inventory. Also as shown, inventory progress bar 132 mayinclude a visual break between consumed band 1322 and proposal band 1324to further visually differentiate the two bands. Transparent section1326 indicates how much inventory would remain after current mediaproposal is scheduled. Progress bar floor 1320 is lightly shaded toindicate that there are no “oversold” conditions either at the orderline level or flight level, as above.

With reference now to FIG. 14E, shown is inventory progress bar 132 inwhich proposal band 1324 includes probable consumption section 1328which provides further information. Probable consumption section 1328indicates how much additional inventory could possibly be consumed byproposal based on probability weighting. Probability weighting is aconcept used to provide a more accurate level of consumption ofavailable inventory based the on the account executives belief in the“probability” of actually closing the sale (e.g., the grade assigned asdescribed above). If a media proposal is placed in the system with a lowgrade probability, only a small amount of effect will it have on futureviews of what inventory is consumed beyond what is already ordered andscheduled. If a probability grade is set to high, the subsequentproposals take II this “reservation of available inventory into accountto show what is truly available to sell. Probable consumption section1328 may be shaded darker than proposal band 1324 or colored differently(e.g., if proposal band 1324 is mustard colored, probable consumptionsection may be orange).

With reference now to FIG. 14F, shown is inventory progress bar 132 inwhich progress bar floor 1320 indicates overselling at flight level. Forsuch an indication, progress bar floor 1320 may be shaded darker orcolored a different color (e.g., purple or red-colored progress barfloor 1320 may indicate overselling at flight level). Overselling atflight lever indicates that at least some of the underlying flights areoversold. Flighting as described above is a higher level view of theadvertising campaign which usually involves several weeks.

With reference now to FIG. 14G, shown is inventory progress bar 132 inwhich progress bar 132 is full. Consumed band 1322 and proposal band1324 completely fill progress bar 132. Additionally, consumed band 1322and proposal band 1324 may both be colored different shades of red, orotherwise shaded similarly, to indicate an oversold condition. Theproposal band 1324 filling remaining inventory space of inventoryprogress bar 132 but being shaded red indicates that inventory isavailable but that the requested inventory puts the media proposal overthe maximum (e.g., the requested advertising spots or placements aremore than the available inventory). Likewise, progress bar floor 1320may be shaded darker or colored a shade of red to indicate an oversoldcondition. For example, progress bar floor 1320 may be shaded purple/redto indicate that the selected order line 119 is oversold. A differentcolor may be used to indicate the entire flight is oversold. Since anadvertising campaign can contains several underlying weeks of “orderlines” also known as fighting, those skilled in the art will appreciatethis quick and intuitive ability to see from a simple graphical elementthe ability to quickly and easily find the areas that need to beaddressed to make the proposal fully executable with availableinventory.

In an embodiment, the media proposal system 10 may also provide a windowwith 6 order details that may be used and viewed when a proposal hasbeen approved as an order. With reference now to FIG. 15, shown is anembodiment of an order details pane 140. In an embodiment, the orderdetails pane 140 may be provided if the client (e.g., an advertiser,agency, representative firm, etc.) requires electronic invoicing. In anembodiment, the order details pane 140 does not need to be completeduntil after the proposal has been approved as an order by the client.

The embodiment of the order details pane 140 shown provides an accountexecutive or other user with various fields to input order data. In theBilling area of the order details pane 140, an account executive mayenter data into an Order Type field, or select from a drop down mainmenu, to specify the type of order (e.g., None or Co-op billing), if aCo-op order, select or enter type of Co-op into a Co-op Type field(e.g., Consolidated or Individual), select or enter billing cycle into aBilling Cycle field (e.g., Broadcast (default selection) or Calendar),select or enter type of revenue generated from the proposal into aRevenue Type field (e.g., national revenue, local revenue, etc.), andselect or enter any extraordinary billing requests into a SpecialRequest field.

With continuing reference to FIG. 15, in an embodiment, an accountexecutive may check notifications to be sent in a Routing section ofthe, order details pane 140.’ For example, if there is an advertiser andno agency, an account executive may choose to send a notice and aninvoice to the advertiser. If an agency is included, a notice and aninvoice may be sent to both the advertiser and the agency. Similarselections may be provided for other parties, such as a representativefirm (see above).

Likewise, in an embodiment, e-Invoicing section of the order detailspane 140 may be provided for when an advertiser or agency has an EDIpartner (e.g., a representative firm such as Katz Media Group). EDIinformation, as shown, may be selected or entered and/or imported from atraffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS) and used in these fieldsor imported when an order arrives electronically from a representativefirm (e.g., Katz Media) or agency.

With continuing reference to FIG. 15, in an embodiment, a miscellaneoussection may be provided in the order details pane 140 so as to allow anaccount executive or other user to flag any sales-related events thatmay apply to the proposal and/or identify the proposal as “NewBusiness.” The user may, for example, select or enter sales competition(e.g., a local competition between account executives or other users setup by manager, e.g., sales manager, in an attempt to boost advertisingsales efforts) or select or enter a campaign type. A selected salescompetition or campaign type may have different commission rates orother compensation bonuses for the account executive. Account executivesare typically paid commissions which are a percentage of the price paidby the customer for an advertising order. If an order was sold as partof a sales competition awarding a bonus percentage commission, theaccount executive or other user would select that sales competition hereand be paid the bonus commission.

In an embodiment, an account executive may also suppress the spot rateto prevent the spot rate (e.g., the price point tied to each advertisingto be sold) from being listed on invoices, which may be useful for co-opbilling (in co-op billing, large package proposals are submitted tomultiple clients; including the spot rate in the proposal may causeconfusion as it would not apply for each of the clients). Additionally,an account executive may enter any pertinent order notes in Note fieldsat the bottom of the order details pane 140. These notes may be importedinto the traffic and billing system when the order is injected into thetraffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS).

The toolbar of the media proposal GUI 70, proposals window 110 or theother GUIs described herein may provide other options for a user, aswell. In an embodiment, the media proposal GUI 70 may display a CustomDaypart icon in the toolbar when the proposals item is selected from themain menu. The Custom Daypart selection may allow a user to modify thetime of the day that an advertisement (e.g., a radio advertisement) willbe aired or broadcast. In an embodiment, there may be sixteen (16)predefined dayparts for use in a media ‘proposal, but custom daypartsmay be added by clicking the Custom Daypart icon in the top toolbar. A‘custom daypart setup window (not shown) may be provided through whichthe user may add to the predefined dayparts. In an embodiment, a usermay click the part of the list in the custom dayparts window to placethe desired daypart. In an add daypart field, the user may enter adescription of the new daypart, then by clicking an add button to causethe new daypart to 33 appear in the list.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that other buttons may beprovided in the custom daypart window, such as delete and edit buttons,for use in deleting or editing a daypart. Also, move up and move downbuttons may be provided to allow a user to change the position of adaypart in the list. A save button may also be provided to allow a userto save any changes the user has made. A person skilled in the art willrecognize that other buttons or fields may be added to the customdaypart window as may be necessary or desired to further customize thedaypart schedule.

The toolbar of media proposal GUI 70, or other GUI described herein, mayprovide a Ranker icon to allow a user to view audience delivery marketdata by station. In an embodiment, under the Proposals main menu item ofmedia proposal GUI 70, a user may generate a list of radio stations inthe market according to ratings for a specified demographic. A marketranker report can then be generated based on the selections made. Byclicking on the Ranker icon in the toolbar, a market ranker window (notshown) may be provided.

To generate an audience delivery market data report, a user may inputdata into: a daypart field, which allows the user to choose one or moredayparts from a drop-down main menu; a stations per daypart field, whichallows the user to limit the number of stations in the report, thedefault is to report all stations within a daypart; a gender field,which allows the user to choose the gender (persons, men, women); astart age field, which allows the user to choose a start age for themarket demographic; an end age field, which allows the user to choose anend age for the market demographic; a book field, which allows the userto choose the booking period on which to base the ranking; a rank byfield, which allows the user to rank report results by selecting AQH,AQH Rating, Cume (cumulative), or Cume Rating. A user may click on theplus sign (+) for the demographic end age to include in the demographicage all age ranges following the beginning age selected.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the AQH selectionranks the radio station based on the average quarter hour, or the numberof persons listening to a particular station for at least five minutesof a fifteen minute period. The AQH rating 30’ ranks the’ radio stationbased on the AQH estimate expressed as a percentage of the I populationbeing measured. The Cume selection ranks the radio station by theestimated number of individuals who listen to a station for a minimum offive minutes during a fifteen minute period within a daypart. The CumeRating ranks a radio station by the Cume audience expressed as apercentage of all persons estimated to be in a specific demographicgroup.

After data is input into fields in the market ranker window, a user mayclick a run icon to generate a report. In the report, a user may clickon the minus (−) to collapse results and click on the plus (+) to expandthe results. A user may also click a print preview icon in the marketranker window to prepare the report for printing, in a format such asthat depicted in FIG. 15A.

A person skilled in the art will recognize that other rankings fieldsand demographic data may be incorporated in the market ranker generatorin media proposal system 10. In an embodiment, media proposal system 10includes a reporting engine 300 that 13 marries multiple sources andapplications to provide reporting of advertiser account activity. Withreference now to FIG. 16, shown is an embodiment of media proposalsystem reporting engine 300. Reporting engine 300 may be incorporatedinto and implemented as a software module of media proposal system 10 oras a separate application. In the embodiment, reporting engine 300connects to various enterprise applications, such as those describedabove, via an integrated services layer (ISL) server 302. Server 302 maybe situated as a separate server remote to or with media proposal system10 server 12 or incorporated into media proposal system server 12.

Through ISL server 302, reporting engine 300 may connect with variousdatabase servers of enterprise applications, e.g., through enterpriseapplication web services 304. For example, reporting engine 300 mayconnect to traffic and billing database server 16, media proposaldatabase server 14, enterprise financial database server 306, a humanresources system database server 308, and a yield management databaseserver 310. Other enterprise application database servers, indicated asN database server 312. Through these various connections, media proposalsystem reporting engine 300 may obtain necessary data to generatevarious reports 314 described herein and others.

The data contained in reporting involves workflow, historical revenue ascompared to current spending, proposals pitched that are won, lost orcancelled, and analytics of the sale process. Media proposal system 10provides a number of user-configurable reports, e.g., through mediaproposal GUI 70 that-may be used to monitor scheduled revenue andpending business as well as derive lists of advertisers and agencies.Accordingly, the main menu of media proposal GUI 70 may also provide aReports item for selection. If a user selects the Reports main menuitem, the media proposal GUI 70 may provide various report options.

In an embodiment, a Reports window may comprise three panes: a reportslist pane that provides a list of reports from which a user may select adesired report, a configuration pane providing various configurationoptions with which a user may configure a report, and a providing inwhich a user may view an example of the type of report selected.

With reference now to FIG. 17, shown is a portion of an embodiment ofthe reports window 150, showing the reports list pane and theconfiguration pane. The reports list pane may allow a user to selectfrom an Advertiser Report, an Agency Report, a Master Advertiser AgencyReport, a One-on-One Report, a Pending Business Report, or a ScheduledRevenue Summary Report. To run a report, a user may select the desiredreport from the All Reports window. A sample report will then appear inthe sample report pane, and the configuration pane will display thedefault configuration settings for the report.

Using the configuration pane, a user may select the parameters for thereport by relying on default values or making their selections fromvarious drop-down lists. A user may click a reset button that may beprovided in the configuration pane to return to the default settings, orthe user may click a Run Report button to launch a toolbar from which auser may print, view, save or manipulate the report in other ways.

With continued reference to FIG. 17, the configuration pane of reportswindow 150 may provide various fields through which a user may customizereport configurations (e.g., via drop-down menus and checkboxes). Forexample, a user may specify From and To billing dates in the drop-downmain menu in a Billing Date field. Likewise, a user may check an IncludeNo Billing Date field to include advertisers with no billing date; aPagebreak on Grouping field may be checked to include a page breakwhenever a new group begins; an Account Executives field may contain adrop-down list to select the account executives to be included in thereport; an Include Unassigned Advertisers may be checked to includeunassigned advertisers in the report; agencies to include/exclude fromthe report may be specified in a drop-down list in an Agencies field;stations to include/exclude from the report may be specified in adrop-down list in a Stations field; a SAM Categories may allow a user tospecify the strategic account management categories to include/excludefrom a drop-down list; a Group By field may be used to specify how thereport data is to be grouped, and grouping options may be provided(e.g., No Grouping, Station First or SAM Category First). Theconfiguration pane may offer different options based on which report isselected in the reports list pane.

As an example of utilizing the configuration pane, the Advertiser Reportmay by default provide information on all advertisers assigned to allaccount executives. However, a user may cause the Advertiser Report toprovide information on all advertisers assigned to individual accountexecutives by specifying individual account executives using the AccountExecutives drop-down main menu in the configuration pane. The AdvertiserReport can likewise be configured or filtered to only show informationon advertisers from certain agencies or representative firms, etc.

After the configuration fields have been filled out by the user, a RunReport button may be used to generate the report. The report can beprinted, exported to its available formats (e.g., PDF, Excel, etc.), allshown on the printing toolbar. Two excerpts from exemplary AdvertiserReports, configured using the configuration pane, are shown in FIGS. 17Aand 17B. The “search criteria” at the top of each report excerptindicates the configuration options chosen.

A person skilled in the art will recognize that other reports may beconfigured and run using the, same or similar functions and fields. Forexample, in an embodiment, an Agency Report may be used to generate alist of all agencies currently registered in Fusion. As, with theAdvertiser Report, a user may adjust various configuration fields forthe Agency Report in the configuration pane. Various configurationfields may be 6 provided, such as a Billing Date field which may beprovided to allow a user to specify the From and To dates to include inthe report, an Include No Billing Date field which may be provided toallow a user to specify whether agencies that have not been sent aninvoice or have a record of business with a radio station should beincluded in the report, an Agencies field which may be provided to allowuser to select or deselect the agencies to include in the report, a Pagebreak on AE field which may be provided so that a user may require thatthe report for each account executive be put on a separate page, anAccount Executives field to provide a user with the option of selectingand deselecting account executives to include in the report, an IncludeUnassigned (Account Executives) field which may be provided to includeaccount executives who are not assigned to Advertisers for which anagency is also attached, a Stations field which may be provided to allowuser to select and deselect stations to include in the report, andInclude Unassigned (Stations) field which may provide a user with theoption of specifying whether or not the report is to be grouped byaccount executive. FIG. 17C shows an excerpt of an exemplary AgencyReport configured using the configuration pane of reports window 150.

With continuing reference to the report window 150 in FIG. 17, in anembodiment, a Master Advertiser/Agency Report, may be provided togenerate a list of all advertisers and/or agencies assigned to amanager's account executives. As above, a user may adjust variousconfiguration fields, which may be those similar to the configurationpane described above. FIG. 17D shows an excerpt of an exemplary MasterAdvertiser/Agency Report configured using the configuration pane ofreports window 150.

In an embodiment, a One-on-One Report such as the one shown in FIG. 17Emay be provided to give a user the status of individual accountexecutive activities. As above, a user may adjust various configurationfields, which may be those similar to the configuration pane describedabove. For example, a user may specify the start date for the report,and the account executives to include in the report. In an embodiment,the One-on-One Report may list the new advertising prospects worked bythe account executive in the last seven days, and may list theadvertisers with a proposal from the account executive awaiting clientapproval.

With continuing reference to the report window 150 in FIG. 17, in anembodiment, media proposal system 10 may also provide a Pending BusinessReport. As above a user may adjust various configuration fields in aconfiguration pane. For example, a user may choose the advertisers toinclude, choose the account executives to include, choose the stationsto include, choose the month and year to start the report, choose therevenue type to include, choose the grades to include, and group thereport by advertiser or account executive. FIG. 17F shows an excerpt ofan exemplary Pending Business Report.

In an embodiment, media proposal system 10 may also provide a ScheduledRevenue Summary Report. The Scheduled Revenue Summary Report may providea list of monthly revenue that includes current and new revenue totalsand a comparison for each month between the current year and theprevious year. As with the other reports, a user may configure thereport, using configuration pane of report window 150. For example, auser may choose the year for the report, choose the stations to include,choose the revenue types to include, choose miscellaneous revenue typesto include, choose account executives to include, choose agencies toinclude, choose advertisers to include, choose break ties to include,choose SAM categories to include, choose to view the report as a monthlyor quarterly report, choose to view broadcaster calendar billing, choosewhether the report will be a summary or detail report (a detail reportfor example, may create a separate page for each advertiser, accountexecutive or station), and choose how to group the report details (e.g.,by advertiser, account executive or station). The selections for thechoices in the configuration pane, for example the account executives,agencies, and advertisers, may be determine from information stored inthe media proposal database 14, the traffic and billing database or anexternal database. FIG. 17G shows an excerpt of an exemplary ScheduledRevenue Summary Report.

As noted above, media proposal system 10 may provide various levels ofaccess for different users. To access the security functionality, a usermay click on a Security item that may be provided in the main menu ofmedia proposal GUI 70. Clicking on the Security item may provide a useraccess to a Security pane with three icons for Users, Roles, and AuditLog.

In an embodiment, a security administrator may control the securitysettings for media proposal system 10. When a new user, e.g.,administrator, account executive (AE), sales manager (SM), businessmanager (BM), or traffic manager (TM), is added to a human resourcesapplication connected to the media proposal system 10, the mediaproposal system 10 automatically imports record of the user. Converselywhen a user is terminated in human resources, media proposal system 10automatically drops that user account. To add a new user manually, theadministrator may click on a Users icon on the media proposal GUI 70 to‘display a list of approved users in a different pane. The administratormay scroll through a list of users and may click a New icon that may beprovided in the toolbar 74, whereupon a User Details pane may beprovided. In an embodiment, as described above, there may be a number ofuser roles. For example, there may be administrator, account executive,sales manager, business manager, and traffic manager roles. The creative(the actual audio, video or web content of the advertisement) is alsoshown in the diagram, indicating how the various roles may interact withthe creative, including inserting it into the proposal during theworkflow. The diagram shown in FIG. 17H illustrates these various rolesand their relation to one another and the workflow in the media proposalsystem 10.

The default workflow interaction of the roles defined in media proposalsystem is shown. Work (e.g., preparation of proposal) in media proposalsystem 10 is prepared by account executive, and sent to sales manager.Sales manager reviews work and forwards to business manager, with salesmanager's approval communicated back to account executive by mediaproposal system 10. Business manager reviews and approves work, andforwards to traffic manager, with business manager's approvalcommunicated back to account executive by media proposal system 10.Traffic manager reviews and approves work, and, in the case of acustomer accepted proposal, injects proposal as an order into trafficand billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS) using media proposal system 10,with traffic manager's approval communicated back to account executiveby media proposal system 10. Alternatively, if any of the managersrejects approval, the rejection may be communicated back to accountexecutive with requests for revision. The administrator, through thesecurity modules, can alter this interaction and roles may be added orchanged based on the media outlet's preferences. As shown, after thetraffic manager approves a client-approved proposal, the proposal isinjected into a traffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS). Theadministrator oversees all other users’ access to the media proposalsystem 10.

In an embodiment, in a User Details window pane, the administrator mayenter a Domain Logon Name for the new user in a General area of the UserDetails pane. If the user already exists in the corporate domain, e.g.,in some other application connected to the media proposal system 10, theuser's key information, including address information, may automaticallypopulate the other fields of the User Details pane. For users that donot already exist in the corporate domain, the administrator may enterthe new user's name, title, telephone number, fax number, email and website information into various data entry fields. In an embodiment, aTraffic System ID field may contain an Export to Traffic button that theadministrator may click on to export the user's data to the connectedtraffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO®, RMS). In an embodiment, onlyaccount executives need to be added to the traffic and billing system.When exported to the traffic and billing system, media proposal system10 may send the user's data to traffic and billing system database 16.

In an embodiment, the administrator may use a Role Assignment area toassign roles to the new user. Initial roles may be determined by athird-party employee management application, such as Oracle's PeopleSoft Human Resources application. In an embodiment, the administratormay be authorized to add roles, but the administrator may not removeroles or permissions assigned by Oracle's PeopleSoft. The administratorcan assign to the user a security role, such as without limitationadministrative assistant (Admin), account executive (AE), businessmanager (BM), sales assistant (SA), sales manager (SM), and trafficmanager (TM).

For each role selected in the Role Assignment area, the administratormay click on a corresponding drop-down list in a Gatekeeper Roles columnthat may be provided’ and select the appropriate check boxes. In anembodiment, the administrator may further define the roles. For example,under the Admin role the administrator may select Admin which is themedia proposal system 10 administrator; under the AE role theadministrator may select OUT AE for outside account executive or IN AEfor inside account executive; under the BM role the administrator mayselect BM for business manager, MC for market controller, AP/R foraccounts payable or receivable manager, CM for credit manager; under theSA role the administrator may select Sales Assistant; under the SM rolethe administrator may select the DOS for director of sales, GSM forgeneral sales manager, NSM for national and internet sales manager, LSMfor local sales manager, NSM for a national sales manager that fallsoutside of a market location, such as a regional key accounts salesmanager, TSM for yield manager, NTR MGR for non-traditional revenuemanager, DIR ND for director of new development; under the TM role theadministrator may select TM for traffic manager, or T/BCLRK for trafficor billing clerk.

In an embodiment, a Manager Assignment area may allow the administratorto assign a manager for the user using drop-down lists for fields SalesManager and Business Manager. If applicable, the administrator may checkOMR Manager for Online Music Radio manager. The Proxy Assignment areamay be used if the new user is a sales assistant. The Proxy For fieldmay provide a drop down list from which the administrator can select anaccount executive. This selection may provide an account executive'ssales assistant permission to assume the account executive role whenusing media proposal system 10.

Once all the information is entered for the new user, the administratormay click on a Save icon that may be provided in the toolbar. A messagemay be provided to notify the administrator that the new user is nowsaved and will appear in the list of users. However, the administratormay click on a Cancel icon that may be provided in the toolbar to canceladding a new user.

To edit a user profile, an administrator may select the desired user inthe Users pane, and click on an Edit icon that may be provided in thetoolbar. The selected user's information may be displayed in a UserDetails pane. The administrator may modify the information and thenclick a Save icon in the toolbar. A message may be provided to confirmthe saved edits. If the administrator does not want to save the changes,the administrator may’ click on a Cancel icon. The administrator mayalso edit role assignments for the user and save them using the “Save”icon from the toolbar.

An administrator may also change the roles of various users by clickingon a Roles icon that may be provided in the Security pane. As roles inan organization change and new business applications and functions areintegrated in media proposal system 10, the administrator may desire tochange role permissions for a particular role, such as for accountexecutives.

With reference now to FIG. 18, shown is an embodiment of a roles pane160, displayed if the Roles icon is selected. For example, theadministrator may select a role such as Account Executive or SalesManager and then click the Edit icon in the toolbar to access the RolePermissions pane. In an embodiment, the administrator may select ordeselect the appropriate check boxes to change role permissions in theRole Permissions pane. The administrator may select or deselect Local orGlobal access such as read access, write access, create access or deleteaccess. For each section of media proposal system 10, the administratormay configure the access level for each particular role. For example,the administrator may limit sales assistants to only read and writeaccess to email within the media proposal system 10. After making theedits, the administrator may click on a Save icon in the toolbar. Amessage may be provided to confirm the saved edits. If the administratordoes not want to save the changes, the administrator may click on aCancel icon in the tool bar.

With reference now to FIG. 19, which shows an audit search window 170,an administrator may also generate an audit log displaying theactivities and system exceptions of particular user when using the mediaproposal system 10 by clicking on an Audit Log icon that may be providedin the Security pane. By clicking on the Audit Log icon, theadministrator may be provided with an audit search window 170 throughwhich the administrator may select from a Search Types field a drop downmain menu. The drop down main menu may allow the administrator to selecteither a search of Audit Activity or System Exceptions. Shown in auditsearch window 170 is an exemplary results list that may be returned whenthe administrator searches for System Exceptions. A list of theexceptions may be displayed in the Exception Search Results pane: Whenan administrator clicks on one of the exceptions in the Exception SearchResults pane, an Exception Details pane may be provided to list detailsof the selected system exception.

As is apparent from the above description, the media proposal system 10provides a dynamic advertising sales automation and advertising customerrelationship manager (CRM) tool. As such media proposal system 10automates much of the advertising sales and customer relationshipprocess. Additionally, the media proposal system 10, by automatingadvertising sales and integrating other systems such as the traffic andbilling system, enables various methods and techniques that increase theeffectiveness of advertising selling.

One such method incorporates a technique of freezing advertisingcampaign costs while proposal acceptance is pending. With reference nowto FIG. 20, shown is an embodiment of a method for generatingadvertising campaign proposals with cost freeze 200. Cost freezeindicates that the method 200 will freeze or hold some or all of theproposed costs for placing advertising in an advertising proposal whilethe customer is considering accepting the proposal. In an embodiment,using media proposal system 10, an advertising campaign proposal isgenerated for a client/customer, block 202. The advertising campaignproposal includes time and day criteria for placing advertising (e.g.,AM rush, weekday, weekend, etc.), media outlets on which advertisingwill be placed (e.g., radio stations, televisions stations, internetsites, billboards, and/or newspapers, etc.), and other informationapparent from above. For example, the campaign proposal includes a costfor the advertising proposed to be placed on the media outlet(s). Thegenerated proposal is submitted to the customer for approval, asdescribed above.

After the advertising campaign proposal is generated, method appliescost freeze rules to proposal, block 204. In an embodiment, mediaproposal system 10 includes a cost freeze engine that applies the costfreeze rules to the proposal. The cost freeze rules dictate how long tofreeze the costs for the advertising in the proposal, which of the coststo freeze, under what circumstances to revise proposal and/or extendcost freeze, etc.

After the cost freeze rules have been applied, method 200 determineswhether the proposal is an initial proposal, block 206. The cost freezerules engine may make this determination’ when applying cost freezerules to the proposal. If the proposal is the first proposal for thecampaign at issue and has not been submitted to the customer, it is aninitial proposal. If the proposal is an initial proposal, method 200determines whether the proposal is accepted or rejected by the customer,block 208. The cost freeze rules engine may make this determination. Forreasons explained below, this determination 208 is typically performedat the end of the day, after close of business for the customer.Alternatively, method 200 may repeatedly and periodically inquire mediaproposal system 10 during the day as to whether proposal is accepted orrejected.

With continuing reference to FIG. 20, if the proposal is not accepted,method 200 determines if the freeze time has expired or if proposal wasrejected (proposal may have not been acted upon, in which case it wouldbe not accepted or rejected), block 210. Again, the cost freeze rulesengine may make this determination. Typically, the cost freeze rulesengine sets the freeze time as a number of days. Accordingly,determination 210 is typically made once per day, after a finaldetermination 208 that the proposal is not accepted that day; if thefreeze time has not expired, a day clock or counter that keeps track ofthe number of days since the proposal was submitted is incremented byone day, block 212. In an alternative embodiment in which the costfreeze time is measured in hours, for example, the counter isincremented by one hour. The determination 210 is typically made onceper hour, after a final determination 208 that the proposal is notaccepted that hour. One of ordinary skill understands that otherincrements of time may be used.

If the freeze time has expired, method 200 returns to applying 204 costfreeze rules to determine what to do next. The cost freeze rules areapplied to the proposal to determine whether to, for example, modify theproposal (including, without limitation, extending the cost freeze,adding enticements to the proposal (more prime advertising placements),modifying the costs and re-freezing) or to cancel the proposal. Otheractions may be taken at this point; the cost freeze rules, e.g., asapplied by the cost freeze rules engine, determine the next steps.Alternatively, account executive or other user may manually modify theproposal at this point. If proposal is modified, method 200 determinesthat proposal is not initial proposal and increments 212 counter/clockas described above.

With continuing reference to FIG. 20, method 200 repeats blocks 204-212until proposal is accepted, rejected or canceled. If proposal isdetermined 208 to be accepted, media proposal system 10 assemblesmetadata from generated campaign proposal, block 214. The metadata mayinclude details about the accepted proposal, which is deemed an order ifapproved by sales manager and traffic manager (see above). These orderdetails include advertisement placement, scheduling and otherrequirements, costs and information about advertiser, advertiserrelationships (see above, etc.). The metadata is used by media proposalsystem 10 to generate various reports, which are described above.Consequently, this metadata may be used to feed media proposal system 10reporting engine 300, block 216. Accordingly, e.g., media proposalsystem 10 reporting engine 300 generates a report of proposals that havebeen accepted.

Likewise, this metadata may be used to feed a yield management system(“VMS”) (e.g., Best Rate), block 218. As indicated above, media proposalsystem 10 may be integrated and interact with various other systems,such as a yield management system. The metadata, particularly cost data,may be used by the yield management system to calculate the Best Rates,as described above and incorporated Best Rate applications. Method 200may also incorporate steps described with reference to method 40 above.

With reference now to FIG. 21, shown is an embodiment of method 230 ofgenerating and managing advertising campaign proposals using feedbackfrom the traffic and billing system (e.g., VIERO® RMS). As shown,embodiment of method 230 shown includes steps performed by mediaproposal system and traffic and billing system 5. In method 230, mediaproposal system 10 utilizes a feedback loop that provides information,based on previously booked campaign orders, from traffic and billingsystem to build and revise/adjust advertising campaign proposals/orders.This feedback information includes an analysis of customer goals and acampaign's achievement of those goals, a campaign's fulfillment ofbuying parameters, and other relevant 10 information. Using thisinformation, media proposal system 10 may build “better” campaignproposals or revise active orders to perform better.

Embodiments of method 230 may utilize the Best Rate functionalitydescribed in the Best Rate applications. In addition to the demand inputdescribed therein, media proposal system 10 may input customer goals,predicted performance of an injected order, financial performancehistory of customers and the marketplace and predefined business rules,such as “bonusing.” In the embodiment of method 230 shown, mediaproposal system 10 utilizes two distinct feedback functions:

(1) When an order is injected into traffic and billing system 5, abusiness rules engine integrated with a scheduling engine in traffic andbilling system looks to see if certain criteria are met. If any criteriaare met, business rules associated with the criteria are applied to theinjected order. For example, if an advertising customer has met orexceeded certain spending levels or budgets for the prior two quarters,the customer is immediately bonused spots/placements (given additionalfree spots/placements in which their advertisements may be aired,displayed, etc.) if there are spots/placements available for thecustomer's particularly category of business and other rules (such asseparation from competitors) are validated.

(2) When a proposal is injected as an order and scheduled, mediaproposal system 10 receives ongoing feedback from traffic and billingsystem and determines if the proposal (now an order) can be improved.Media proposal system 10, e.g., a scenario engine in media proposalsystem 10, may receive suggested additional spots or differentspots/placements that may be added to the order for a discount (e.g.,because the spots/placements are set to spoil/expire) or at a betterprice than original ordered spots. Media proposal system 10 may processthe suggested spots/placements and revise/adjust the original or thecurrent proposal/order to reflect them. The revised proposal/order maybe presented to the account executive for review and submission to thecustomer for approval. Likewise, the feedback may enable the mediaproposal system 10 to grade the order's performance and provide thisgrade to the account executive so that the account executive maymanually adjust the proposal/order. This feedback and adjustment mayoccur while an order is being fulfilled, allowing a dynamic revision ofthe order during an ongoing, ordered advertising, campaign.Consequently, this feedback loop continues while an order is beingfulfilled.

Accordingly, method 230 builds advertising campaign proposals, block232. Such proposals may be built as described above, including withoutlimitation as in FIG. 19. Method 230 determines if a campaign isaccepted and a buy placed, block 234. This is determined to haveoccurred if media proposal system 10 receives customer acceptance of aproposal. If the campaign is ultimately not accepted, a record of therejected or canceled proposal is filed for later analysis, block 236.For example, media proposal system 10 may later run various metrics todetermine features of rejected or canceled proposals, determine successrates and otherwise generate reports that enable, user analysis.

With continuing reference to FIG. 21, if a campaign proposal isaccepted, the campaign proposal is injected into traffic and billingsystem. 5 and a’ pending order is created, block 238. The pending orderremains pending (e.g., in traffic and billing system in-box) until orderis booked, block 240. Booking an order includes scheduling theadvertisements in the order (e.g., described in proposal created andaccepted) for airing, displaying, publishing, etc. on the media outlet.For example, booking may include placing spots into a radio stationschedule. Booking an order may be performed as described in the RMSapplication. A booking agent, e.g., as described in the RMS applicationmay dynamically schedule and schedule the advertisements based onfeedback in block 240. While advertisements are ‘being scheduled andplaced, method 230 performs constant business rules analysis todetermine if certain criteria are met, if order goals are being,fulfilled, etc. block 244. The business rules analysis may be performedas described above and in the, Airwaves application. Based on thebusiness rules analysis, method 230 determines whether to automaticallyadjust the advertisement 33 scheduling, block 246. This determination246 may be based on a certain percentage of goal fulfillments being met.For example, if 100% of the order goals are not being met oropportunities exist based on the presence of a business rule such as“bonusing” good customers advertisement spots/placements, method 230 maydetermine to automatically adjust the advertisement scheduling to try tobetter fulfill the order goals. Accordingly, method 230 loops back to,e.g., booking agent, to dynamically re-schedule advertising 6 242, basedon information from the business rules analysis 244. For example, method230 may schedule additional airing of an advertisement in bonus spotsmade available. This process between blocks 242-246 may continue as acontinuous loop before and during airing, displaying, publishing, etc.of advertising.

If method 230 determines 246 not to adjust the advertising scheduling,the order is fulfilled and advertising performance information as itrelates the placement of ads in the scheduled log on the order is fedback to media proposal system 10. Using this information, media proposalsystem 10, analyzes the customer goals and the campaign's achievement ofthose goals, block 248. This analysis includes determining from thefeedback whether opportunities for improving the order exist and whetherthe order should be adjusted. Based on the analysis, media proposalsystem 10 computes a buying parameters fulfillment score, block 250.This score is used as an overall ranking of how likely the orderparameters will fulfill the customer's goals. If opportunities exist,such as spots that may be purchased at discounted rates, etc., toincrease the performance against the original goals, a scenario orcomputation engine of media proposal system 10 will present theseopportunities to users through the GUIs described above. Method 230 mayautomatically adjust the original proposal to include the opportunitiesas described herein, building 232 new or modified proposals to presentto the customer The media proposal system 10 will then trigger workflowto give the original account executive of the proposal/order the abilityto present the opportunities as alternatives to the agreed upon order inplace.

An example of such opportunities determined from the score is if smalladditional advertising slots are added to the overall order, theperformance against costs in the proposal/order would be greatlyimproved. This improvement would make modifying the existingproposal/order attractive to the customer. The account executive mayperform this process manually based on the feedback from traffic andbilling system in the beginning of the selling process. However, thescheduling engine in traffic and billing system is constantlyautomatically moving around advertising after an order is placed whichcan create opportunities. Media proposal system 10 may automaticallycommunicate such opportunities to customers (e.g., during maintenancestage based on maintenance stage relationships ‘and business rules setup therein).

As noted above, method 230 is a dynamic, ongoing process occurring whilean order is being fulfilled. Accordingly, method 230 may be repeated ina constant loop until order is fulfilled. Method 230 may alsoincorporate steps described with reference to methods 40 and method 200above.

With reference now to FIG. 22, shown is an alternative view of feedbackloop of method 230. Various proposals are generated by media proposalsystem 10 and communicated to customer (client and customer are usedinterchangeably throughout), block 232. Customer approves of a proposaland it is injected into traffic and billing, block 234. Business rulesare applied to determine if there should be an automatic schedulingchange, block 246. If yes, the automatic scheduling change is input intoa scheduling engine, block 242. Media proposal system 10 receivesfeedback and determines, e.g., using a scenario engine, whether to applybusiness rules to generate additional scenarios (i.e., new or revisedproposals), block 248. If new or modified proposals may be generated toadd value to the original or current proposal/order, media proposalsystem automatically forwards the new or modified proposals to customer,block 252. The proposals may be sent to customer per the customerscontact information set up in media proposal system 10 as describedabove. If there are no opportunities or good reasons to modify theorder, the order is left unchanged, block 254. Method 230 maycontinuously loop while order is being fulfilled, as described above.

As described above, media proposal system 10 and the various methodsdescribed herein may be used for creating media proposals and placingadvertisements in a variety of media outlet types. For example, mediaproposal system 10 may be used to create, media proposals foradvertising on terrestrial, satellite, internet, streaming,high-definition, and cable radio and television, websites, newspapers,billboards, etc. Because each of these media types or products may, andmost cases does, have varying ways to price advertising spots orplacements, as well as varying ways to gauge pricing values, mediaproposal system 10 incorporates a unique aggregation and rules processto display comparable like values for advertising in different mediatypes to media proposal system 10 users and customers. This like valueis displayed in a consistent user interface to minimize confusion andspeed up the selling process. Those skilled in the art will needed toperform these like comparisons such as individual demand based pricingfrom the a yield management system for each media type, advertisingproduct availability values for the traffic and billing system, audiencedelivery metrics from external providers. Media proposal system 10couples these external components with mathematical conversion routinesto produce the output to users. The weighting formulas and rulesexecuted in this conversion module are editable by users as the mediaproducts evolve in their effectiveness thus their value to the clients.An example of this is the Arbitron CPP value for a terrestrial radioadvert compared to the internet CPM value for a streaming radio advert.Since the general feeling is that streaming on a desktop is lesseffective that the captive commercial played while driving, the value ofthe CPM would be weighted down while the value of the CPP would beweighted up by percentages entered by the users. As technology evolves,devices in vehicles could possibly provide internet streams and,therefore, the value would be reevaluated and the system parametersmodified accordingly.

With reference now to FIG. 23, shown is an embodiment method 600 forcreating a media proposal for multiple media outlets that utilizes theweighting process and rules described above. Method 600 includesweighting that enables advertising pricing for various media products tobe compared as like values. Media products are advertising placementpossibilities or options on a media outlet. Various media products heremay be different advertising placement options on the same type of mediaoutlet or different advertising placement options on different mediaoutlet types. An account executive, or other user, creates an initialmedia proposal with placement of advertisements in multiple mediaproducts, block 602. Media proposal system determines if media proposalincludes placement of advertisements in media products of multiple mediatypes, block 604. If multiple media types are in media proposal, method600 fetches the price(s) and availability for each media product, block606. Method 600 may fetch the prices from a yield management system,such as described in the Best Rate applications. Method 600 and mediaproposal system 10 may consider or subdivide media products of the samegeneral type (e.g., radio stations) into different media types (e.g.,national television stations in one type and local television stationsinto a different type). Method 600 applies a weighting for each mediatype in the media proposal, block 608. The weighting may be input intomedia proposal by account executive or predefined by users for eachmedia type, block 610. Weighting may be stored in value index matrix 612which may be stored in media proposal system database 14. Weightingenables media proposal system 10 to treat advertisements in differentmedia types or of different media products, which are often priced andtreated quite differently, on a like basis. This enables media proposalsystem 10 to display and users to view advertising in different mediaproducts as like values. Accordingly, method 600 displays weightedpricing of different media type advertising in media proposal in mediaproposal GUI 70 as like values, block 614.

Because technology is providing increasingly varied ways for mediaoutlets to sell products, there is a need to bridge the old mediaproducts with new offerings. Embodiments described herein use “valueindexing,” which is a weighting system based on the delivery data madeavailable to give the account executives and customers a way to gaugethe relative values of the continuing expanded product sets. To makethis value assessment, a weight is calculated using the best knowncomparative data in the industry of each product offered by a mediaoutlet and using a calculation rule set. The rule sets are userdefinable as some level of subjectivity exists in the deliveryexpectations. This data is used to provide a simple visible proposal tomake understand those values relative to each product offering based onthe best known comparative analysis. Method 600 may utilize such valueindexing, weighting and rule sets in steps described above. As anexample, broadcast TV or Radio viewer and listenership audience data andInternet page view data is analyzed then weighted and displayed to showa customer what the total audience exposure should be for eachadvertising dollar spent using a consistent value index ratings whenthese products offerings are purchased as a package. As moreunderstanding and better audience data is made available, embodimentsprovide users a way to update these analytics to consume the higherquality data.

Referring next to FIGS. 24-25, an automated advertisement system will bediscussed according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.Various embodiments of an automated advertisement system describedherein can be implemented by modifying some or all of the samecomponents and techniques described above with reference to FIGS. 1-23,so that near-real-time performance feedback and automated updating ofadvertisements is accommodated. In other embodiments, an automatedadvertisement system can be implemented as an add-on to a separateproposal creation and management system, so that a complete lifecyclesystem, from proposal generation and approval, to media contentdistribution with customized and personalized advertisement insertion,to performance measurement and tracking, to automated ad copy changes,to billing functions are all integrated into a single system thatpresents seamless functionality to advertisers and media outlets.

With specific reference to FIG. 24, various embodiments of an automatedadvertisement system 650 will be discussed. Automated advertisementsystem 650 includes a media proposal server 12; processing system 670,which includes accounts management module 674, analytics module 672,advertisement module 676, and report generation module 678; traffic andbilling system 648; media distribution server 646; and media outlets 680and 690.

Media outlet 680 includes audio server A 682, which provides primarymedia content (e.g. shows, programs, songs, and the like) andadvertisements to on-air broadcast chain 686 for delivery to mediaconsumers via broadcast over the airwaves. Media outlet 680 alsoincludes streaming audio server A, which provides primary media andadvertisements through streaming broadcast chain A 688 to mediaconsumers 700 via a communications network such as Internet 699.Similarly, media outlet B 690, which may or may not serve a differentmarket than media outlet A 680, includes audio server B 692, on-airbroadcast chain B 694, streaming audio server B 696, and streamingbroadcast chain B 698.

Various embodiments of automated advertisement system 650 provide theability to adjust and adapt advertisements and advertisement campaignsin near-real-time. The adjustment can be performed in response toperformance feedback 653, which can include but is not limited to socialmedia performance feedback 655. Performance feedback 653 and socialmedia performance feedback 655 can be obtained directly or indirectlyfrom media outlets 680 and 690; media consumers 700, which can includeconsumers of both streaming and non-streaming media, individual mediastations, social media sources such as social media service/provider697, cloud-based media delivery platforms such as iHeart® radio, thirdparty information 656, and other sources. Performance feedback 653 canbe provided and received contemporaneously with the airing of anadvertisement. As used herein, unless otherwise specified or required bycontext, social media performance feedback 655 is considered to be asubset of performance feedback 653.

Media proposal server 12 can be used to generate and present proposalsto advertisement purchasers 652 and 654, receive purchase orders fromadvertisement purchasers 652 and 654, and inject the purchased proposalsinto traffic and billing system 648. The advertising proposals generatedby media proposal server 12 can include purchaser preferences related toperformance feedback goals, thresholds indicating performance levels atwhich advertisements are to be altered or replaced, particular mediaoutlets or stations to which original and updated advertisements are tobe delivered, the type, frequency, and source of performance feedbackexpected, reporting preferences indicating preferred frequency ofreports, report triggers, report content, and other information aspreviously discussed.

These proposals can be based on various combinations of informationobtained from advertisement purchasers 652 and 654, traffic and billingsystem 648, third-party information 656, and purchaser preferencesdatabase 658. For example, the information obtained from advertisementpurchasers 652 and 654 can include, but is not limited to, variousperformance requirements, performance feedback collection preferences,start and stop times, advertisement placement prohibitions andpreferences, report triggers, ad-copy modification preferences, costlimitations, station preferences, media outlet preferences, demographicrequirements and preferences, and the like. This information can beobtained via a web-page interface and stored for later retrieval inpurchaser preferences database 658. In some embodiments, the informationobtained from advertisement purchasers 652 and 654 can be entereddirectly into a proposal, and later the culled from the proposal andentered into purchaser preferences database 658.

The information obtained from purchaser preferences 658 can includecurrent and past advertising proposal information, informationindicating which information was included in previously purchasedproposals, organizational contact information, report delivery formatand timing information, and other information related to purchaserpreferences.

Third party information 656 can include information from businesspartners that can be used to tailor advertisement proposals, informationfrom credit reporting agencies, information from data collectionservices, media ranking information, or the like. Information fromtraffic and billing system 648 can include scheduling information,information about scheduled advertisements for other advertisers, spotavailability, payment history of advertisement purchasers 652 and 654,budget information associated with a proposal or campaign, and otherinformation generated or otherwise obtained by traffic and billingsystem 648.

Media proposal server 12 receives performance feedback 653, and works incooperation with analytics module 672, which is included in processingsystem 670, to determine whether or not the performance feedbackindicates that an updated advertisement should be provided in place ofan originally aired advertisement, and to obtain an updated orreplacement advertisement in accordance with a proposal. In someembodiments, performance feedback 653 and social media performancefeedback 655 can be provided directly to analytics module 672 inparallel with being provided to media proposal server 12. Additionally,in some implementations analytics module 672 can receive performancefeedback 653 and social media performance feedback 655, and forward someor all of the performance feedback to media proposal server 12.Advertisement module 676, also included in processing system 670 can beused to generate or otherwise obtain new ad-copy and update or replacean originally aired advertisement with a new version of theadvertisement, consistent with advertisement update parameters specifiedin the advertisement proposal.

Accounts management module 674 can be used to monitor and track anaccount associated with one or more advertisement purchasers, andprovide information to media proposal server 12 for use in determiningtypes of automated changes (if any) to make in an advertisement tocomply with the terms of an advertising proposal, without violatingsystem imposed account limitations, and taking into account any specialcircumstances for particular accounts. For example, if media proposalserver 12 determines, based on performance feedback and proposalspecifications, that an original advertisement is to be modified andthen re-aired on a particular number of stations, accounts managementmodule 674 can notify media proposal server 12 of an account statusassociated with the advertisement purchaser. The account status canindicate whether or not the advertisement purchaser has sufficientremaining budget to pay for both modifying the ad-copy, and forplacement of the modified advertisement into the desired number ofspots. If not, then media proposal server 12 may prevent automaticmodification and limit or change distribution of the advertisement toconform to the remaining budget. In some embodiments, the action takenin this circumstance can be specified in the proposal.

Analytics module 672 can be used to evaluate performance feedback 653received from media proposal server 12, or in some cases from trafficand billing system 648. Performance feedback 653 can be evaluated andcompared against information included in purchaser preferences database658 to determine if modifying an advertisement is warranted based on thedetermined performance. The performance feedback 653 used by analyticsmodule 672 can include all, or only a portion of, performance feedback653.

In some embodiments, performance feedback 653, which can be receivedfrom media outlet A 680 and media outlet B 690, can include aggregateduser feedback that has been partially or fully preprocessed at the mediaoutlet. Preprocessing can allow reduce the amount of data that istransmitted from the media outlets. In some embodiments, performancefeedback 653 statistically represents feedback provided by all the usersof that media outlet, or by a subset of users of that media outlet. So,for example, feedback from users in a particular media outlet can bepreprocessed, so that a single value representing advertisementperformance of the media outlet as a whole. Likewise, feedback fromusers belonging to a particular group or demographic within a particularmedia outlet can be aggregated or grouped together to provide a singleperformance feedback value representative of the particular group.

In some instances, individual user feedback can be grouped by a mediaoutlet according to whether the user is being provided the media viastreaming server, or an over-the-air broadcast. Thus, for example,feedback from users listening to a radio station via on-air broadcastchain B 686 and on-air broadcast chain B 694 can be separated fromperformance feedback obtained from media consumers 700 listing tostreaming the same radio station via Internet 699. In yet otherimplementations, each media consumer's individual feedback can beprovided to media proposal server 12, thereby allowing analytics module672 to perform the majority of the processing and data analysis tasks.

In any of these cases, appropriate metadata can be included inperformance feedback 653 so that the time of the feedback, the stationto which the feedback pertains, and similar information is provided toanalytics module 672. In various embodiments, any data specificallyidentifying an account or identity of a user providing the feedback canbe stripped from the performance feedback, or simply not included in theperformance feedback. In some embodiments, identifying information canbe stripped from the performance feedback after the information is usedto verify that a valid user or listeners providing the feedback, therebypreventing Internet “bots” and other automated programs from being usedto improperly influence the content of performance feedback 653.

Processing system 670 also includes a report generation module 678,which can be used to generate any of various reports provided toadvertisement purchasers in response to performance feedback 653indicating that a particular advertisement or group of advertisementsmeets, fails to meet, or exceeds, a performance threshold specified inan advertisement proposal. For example, an advertising proposalpurchased by advertisement purchaser be 654 may indicate that reportsare to be provided whenever updated ad copy is generated, requested, orotherwise obtained by advertisement module 676. In otherimplementations, report generation module 678 can generate reportsperiodically, regardless of the performance of a particularadvertisement or group of advertisements.

In some implementations, report generation module 678 can receiveinformation from analytics module 672 that indicates that a trend infeedback from a particular demographic is increasing or decreasing. Areport can also be generated in response to a trend change of a givenpercentage, if a trend shows a persistent rate of increase or decreaseover a specified period of time. Various reports can be specified fortrends on a per-station basis, a per-outlet basis, a peradvertisement-type, a per-demographic basis, a per-advertisement basis,per-campaign basis, or the like.

In some embodiments, if analytics module 672 identifies a downward trendin performance feedback for a particular advertisement or campaign,analytics module 672 notifies advertisement module 676 to obtain updatedadvertising to replace the original advertising, even if a staticthreshold performance value is still satisfied. Such an occurrence canalso cause a report to be automatically generated and delivered to anadvertisement purchaser.

In various embodiments, advertisement module 676 can generate updatedadvertisements automatically and without additional purchaserintervention, consistent with purchaser preferences stored in purchaserpreferences database 658. In other embodiments, media proposal server 12can obtain updated advertisements, again automatically and withoutfurther purchaser intervention, from third-party information 656. Forexample, media proposal server 12 can provide a portion or all of theperformance feedback obtained from the media outlets to a third-party,such as an advertising agency (not illustrated), or the like. Theadvertising agency can be tasked with modifying, or updating theoriginal advertisements based on the performance feedback. Theadvertising agency or other third-party can return a modifiedadvertisement back to media proposal server 12 for distribution tovarious media outlets.

At least some of the performance feedback 653 received from media outletA 680 and media outlet B 690 is received contemporaneously with anadvertisement being aired on either a streaming broadcast channel or anover the air broadcast channel. Contemporaneous reception of performancefeedback generally refers to receiving the feedback during, or shortlyafter, the airing of a particular advertisement. Thus, for example userfeedback provided weeks, days, and even hours after an advertisement isaired, may not considered contemporaneous feedback, while feedbackreceived during the airing of an advertisement, or before a subsequentcommercial break is aired on the same station, is generally consideredto be contemporaneous feedback. Thus, if an advertisement break includesthree spots, feedback related to any of those three spots, feedback canbe considered to be contemporaneous if it is received prior to anext-scheduled block of spots to be aired.

Traffic and billing system 648 can distribute both original andupdated/replacement advertisements to media outlets via mediadistribution server 646. Traffic and billing system 648 can work inconjunction with processing system 670 and media proposal server 12 tofacilitate proper distribution of advertisements and advertisingcampaigns. Traffic and billing system 648 can use performance feedbackfrom media outlet A 680 and media outlet B 690 to adjust pricing orplay-out goals in conformance with parameters in a purchased mediaproposal.

Media distribution server 646 distributes the advertisements, consistentwith the advertising proposal, to media outlet A 680 media outlet B 690.In some embodiments, media distribution server 646 distributes theoriginal and updated advertisements to a central location, for example amaster audio server, within each of the media outlets. In otherembodiments, media distribution server 646 distributes theadvertisements to individual stations, or to particular groups ofstations, within any given media outlet.

Media distribution server 646 can operate on a push basis, in whichmedia distribution server delivers advertisements to the particularmedia outlets or media stations without receiving a request. In otherembodiments, media distribution server 646 provides original andupdated/replacement advertisements to media outlets on request. Invarious embodiments a combination of “push” and “on request” deliverymethods is used, in which the media outlets air predeterminedadvertisements on the basis of a predetermined clock, but with allowancebeing made for substitute or altered advertisements using varioustechniques, including WANcasting®.

In some embodiments, media outlet A 680 includes a master audio server A682 that provides content and advertisements to an on air broadcastchain A 686 and streaming audio server A 684, which in turn providescontent and advertisements to various different stations included instreaming broadcast chain A 688 to be delivered over Internet 699 andeventually to media consumers 700.

Advertisements and content broadcast using on air broadcast chain 686can differ from advertisements streamed over streaming broadcast chain a688. In some embodiments, not only are original advertisements providedto audio server A 682 and streaming audio server A 684 different fromeach other, but different updated advertisements are provided todifferent individual media outlets or stations. Consider the followingexample. An insurance company has three different versions of anadvertisement, each advertising the same product. Initially a firstversion of the advertisement is provided to stations covered by mediaoutlet A 680, and a second version of the advertisement is provided tostations included in media outlet B 690. Based on performance feedback,analytics module 672 determines that the first version of theadvertisement provided to media outlet A 680 is meeting or exceedingperformance expectations, but performance of the second version of theadvertisement, which was provided to media outlet B 690, is fallingshort of the threshold performance requirements.

In response to this determination, media proposal server 12 can instructadvertisement module 676 to obtain the third version of theadvertisement, and instruct traffic and billing system 648 to providethe third version to media outlet B 690 to replace the second versionthat was originally provided, but instruct traffic and billing system648 to deliver the original first version for broadcast on media outletA 680. The next time the insurance company's advertisement is aired by astation in media outlet A 680, the same advertisement will be played aswas originally played, but in media outlet B 690, the updated or thirdversion of the advertisement will be played. Likewise, the advertisementon streaming audio server A 684 can be updated without updating theadvertisement on audio server A 682. Similar principles apply toproviding original or updated advertisements to individual stations.

Referring next to FIG. 25, a method 706 of automatically updatingadvertisements and generating reports is discussed according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated by block 708, anorder for purchase of an advertising proposal is received online. Theprocess for receiving an order, for example by providing a mediaproposal to an advertiser, and working with the advertiser to modify oradjust the media proposal until it is acceptable, at which point themedia proposal is injected into a traffic and billing system, isdiscussed above with reference to FIGS. 1-23

A check is made at block 710 to determine if there are moreadvertisements to be delivered according to the proposal if there are nomore advertisements to be delivered, method 706 ends. If, however, thereare more advertisements to be delivered, method 706 proceeds to block712.

As illustrated by block 712, advertisements are distributed according tothe purchased proposal. The proposal can indicate particular mediaoutlets, or particular stations within a media outlet, to whichadvertisements are to be distributed. In some embodiments,advertisements are categorized for delivery to different types of mediastations or media outlets. For example, some advertisements may bespecially adapted for use with streaming radio stations, while othersare adapted for over the air broadcasts. Various subcategories ofadvertisements can also exist, for example, streaming radio stationsdelivered to particular types of media devices, such as smart phones,tablets, or the like. For example, a proposal can indicate that onlyadvertisements delivered to streaming radio stations are to beautomatically altered without confirmation from the purchaser. Or aproposal can indicate that replacement/updated advertisements aired onrock music stations in San Antonio, Tex. are to be selected from a firstpool of alternate advertisements, while advertisements aired on acountry-western music station aired in San Antonio, Tex. are to bechanged by updating the ad-copy with ad-copy stored at a particularnetwork location. In some embodiments, the advertising proposal canspecify different performance criteria for different stations, markets,media outlets, etc.

As illustrated by block 714, contemporaneous performance feedback isreceived. The performance feedback can include feedback from one or moremedia consumers. Performance feedback can include explicit feedbackprovided by the media consumer, for example responses obtained throughuser selectable objects presented in conjunction with an advertisement,or the like. In other implementations, indirect, implied, or inferredfeedback can be gathered.

In some embodiments, social media feedback or activity is used todetermine performance feedback. For example, a user may “like” anadvertisement on Facebook, or a user may post a tweet to Twitter usingwords such as “good,” “fantastic,” and “loved” in the same sentence as aproduct name. Social media feedback can be collected when a user isreceiving a media station through a social media provider. In some suchembodiments, the social media feedback can be provided through acloud-based media player, such as iHeart® radio. The social mediafeedback can be obtained directly from the iHeart® radio application orsystem, or forwarded from a social media provider. Regardless of theparticular delivery method, the social network feedback can be deliveredto the automated advertisement system contemporaneously with anadvertisement or other content being aired.

In various embodiments, the performance feedback received from users isbased on monitored use characteristics, such as a media consumernavigating to an advertiser's website within a threshold period of timeafter an advertisement airs, the length of time a media consumer to usean advertisers website, a media consumer selecting a link or calling atelephone number provided in an advertisement, a media consumer“rewinding” an advertisement, a media consumer changing to a differentstation during the advertisement or the like. It should be appreciatedthat this contemporaneous feedback differs from more traditional,long-term feedback, e.g. increased sales over time based on anadvertising campaign, due the fact that contemporaneous feedback can beused to modify an advertisement campaign in near real-time.

For example, as illustrated by block 716, a check is made to determinewhether the performance feedback satisfies effectiveness criteria. Ifthe effectiveness criteria are satisfied, the advertisement can beslated to run again in the next slot scheduled for that advertiser onthat station, and a report can be generated and provided to anadvertisement purchaser, as illustrated by block 720. If, however, theperformance feedback does not satisfy the effectiveness criteria atblock 716, and updated advertisement and/or ad-copy can be obtained asillustrated by block 718.

The updated advertisement can be an advertisement selected from a groupof premade advertisements selected by an advertisement purchaser. Forexample, an advertisement purchaser can have a primary advertisement,which they believe will perform the best in a particular market, and abackup advertisement which they believe may not be as effective as theprimary advertisement. However, if the performance feedback indicatesthat the primary advertisement is less effective than desired, then thesecondary advertisement can be automatically substituted for the primaryadvertisement before the ineffective, primary advertisement is againpresented to consumers. In this way, an updated, advertisement can beselected and delivered to particular stations or media outlets withoutany intervention by the advertisement purchaser beyond the initial mediaproposal being required.

In some embodiments, the primary advertisement may continue to be airedon a majority of stations, based on performance feedback from thosestations, while the backup advertisement can be aired on other stationsin which the primary advertisement performed poorly. In otherimplementations, for example in embodiments in which performancefeedback is not broken down on a station by station basis, if theprimary advertisement has an overall performance rating less than athreshold level, the backup advertisement can automatically besubstituted in place of the primary advertisement in a set number ofstations, a set number of media outlets, or the like.

In circumstances in which replacement advertisements are unavailable orundesirable, and in cases in which a media proposal purchased by anadvertisement purchaser specifies that new advertisements should begenerated on-the-fly by the automated advertisement system, new ad-copycan be computer-generated, or generated according to human instructionsin response to the performance feedback. For example, consider the casein which two nearly identical advertisements use only a single differentphrase, and the two advertisements are distributed to the samedemographic groups. If one of the advertisements receives performancefeedback that is more positive than the other advertisement, it may beconcluded that the phrase used in the lower performing advertisementneeds to be replaced. In that case, new ad copy can be created for thelower performing advertisement in a new advertisement generated fordistribution the next time the lower performing advertisement wasscheduled to air.

The terms and descriptions used herein are set forth by way ofillustration only and are not meant as limitations. Those skilled in theart will recognize that many variations are possible within the spiritand scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, and theirequivalents, in which all terms are to be understood in their broadestpossible sense unless otherwise indicated.

1. A method comprising: receiving, at a processing system including ananalytics module, streaming performance feedback originating from astreaming media player, the streaming media player configured to receivea media stream broadcast via a first broadcast chain, wherein thestreaming performance feedback includes sufficient identifyinginformation to verify that a user of the streaming media player is avalid user; verifying, at the processing system, that the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player isreceived from a valid user; in response to the verifying, strippingidentifying information from the streaming performance feedbackoriginating from the streaming media player; transmitting the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player, withthe identifying information stripped out, from the processing system toa media proposal server; determining, at the media proposal server, thatoriginally scheduled media items broadcast via a second broadcast chainare to be replaced with replacement media items, wherein the determiningis based at least in part on the streaming performance feedbackoriginating from the streaming media player with the identifyinginformation stripped out; and transmitting the replacement media itemsto the second broadcast chain via a media distribution server.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the first and second broadcast chain arestreaming broadcast chains.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the firstbroadcast chain is a streaming broadcast chain and the second broadcastchain is an on-air broadcast chain.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: transmitting the replacement media items from the mediadistribution server in response to a request from a media outletincluding the second broadcast chain.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining, at the media proposal server, that anoriginally scheduled media item broadcast via both the first broadcastchain and the second broadcast chain is to be replaced with a firstreplacement media item on the first broadcast chain and a secondreplacement media item on the second broadcast chain, wherein thedetermining is based on the streaming performance feedback originatingfrom the streaming media player with the identifying informationstripped out.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving,at the processing system, over-air performance feedback originating fromusers receiving media broadcast via an over-air broadcast chain; andseparating the over-air performance feedback from the streamingperformance feedback.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstbroadcast chain and the second broadcast chain are part of a first mediaoutlet serving a first market, the method further comprising: receiving,at the processing system, over-air performance feedback originating fromusers of the second broadcast chain; aggregating the over-airperformance feedback with the streaming performance feedback to generatefirst-market performance feedback indicating market-wide performance;determining, at the media proposal server, that originally scheduledmedia items broadcast in a second market are to be replaced withreplacement media items, wherein the determining is based at least inpart on the first-market performance feedback; and transmitting thereplacement media items to a media server included in the second marketvia the media distribution server.
 8. A system comprising: a firstprocessing system including: a first processor and associated firstmemory; a first program of instructions stored in the first memory andexecuted by the first processor, the first program of instructionsconfigured to: receive streaming performance feedback originating from astreaming media player, the streaming media player configured to receivea media stream broadcast via a first broadcast chain, wherein thestreaming performance feedback includes sufficient identifyinginformation to verify that a user of the streaming media player is avalid user; verify that the streaming performance feedback originatingfrom the streaming media player is received from a valid user; inresponse to verifying, strip identifying information from the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player;transmit the streaming performance feedback originating from thestreaming media player, with the identifying information stripped out,from the first processing system to a media proposal server; a secondprocessing system implementing a media proposal server, the secondprocessing system including: a second processor and associated secondmemory; a second program of instructions stored in the second memory andexecuted by the second processor, the second program of instructionsconfigured to: determine that originally scheduled media items broadcastvia a second broadcast chain are to be replaced with replacement mediaitems, wherein determining is based at least in part on the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player withthe identifying information stripped out; and transmit the replacementmedia items to the second broadcast chain via a media distributionserver.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein: the first and secondbroadcast chain are streaming broadcast chains.
 10. The system of claim8, wherein: the first broadcast chain is a streaming broadcast chain andthe second broadcast chain is an on-air broadcast chain.
 11. The systemof claim 8, further including: a media distribution server configured totransmit the replacement media items in response to a request from amedia outlet including the second broadcast chain.
 12. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the second program of instructions is furtherconfigured to: determine that an originally scheduled media itembroadcast via both the first broadcast chain and the second broadcastchain is to be replaced with a first replacement media item on the firstbroadcast chain and a second replacement media item on the secondbroadcast chain, wherein the determining is based on the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player withthe identifying information stripped out.
 13. The system of claim 8,wherein the first program of instructions is further configured to:receive over-air performance feedback originating from users receivingmedia broadcast via an over-air broadcast chain; and separate theover-air performance feedback from the streaming performance feedback.14. The system of claim 8, wherein the first broadcast chain and thesecond broadcast chain are part of a first media outlet serving a firstmarket, and wherein: the first program of instructions if furtherconfigured to: receive over-air performance feedback originating fromusers of the second broadcast chain; aggregate the over-air performancefeedback with the streaming performance feedback to generatefirst-market performance feedback indicating market-wide performance;the second program of instructions if further configured to: determinethat originally scheduled media items broadcast in a second market areto be replaced with replacement media items, wherein the determining isbased at least in part on the first-market performance feedback; andtransmit the replacement media items to a media server included in thesecond market via the media distribution server.
 15. An improvedautomated media delivery system comprising: at least a first processingsystem configured to implement an analytics module using a processor andassociated memory, the analytics module configured to: receive streamingperformance feedback originating from a streaming media player, thestreaming media player configured to receive a media stream broadcastvia a first broadcast chain, wherein the streaming performance feedbackincludes sufficient identifying information to verify that a user of thestreaming media player is a valid user; verify that the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player isreceived from a valid user; in response to verifying, strip identifyinginformation from the streaming performance feedback originating from thestreaming media player; transmit the streaming performance feedbackoriginating from the streaming media player, with the identifyinginformation stripped out, from the first processing system to a mediaproposal server; the at least a first processing system furtherconfigured to implement a media proposal server, media proposal serverconfigured to: determine that originally scheduled media items broadcastvia a second broadcast chain are to be replaced with replacement mediaitems, wherein determining is based at least in part on the streamingperformance feedback originating from the streaming media player withthe identifying information stripped out; and transmit the replacementmedia items to the second broadcast chain via a media distributionserver.
 16. The improved automated media delivery system of claim 15,wherein: the first and second broadcast chain are streaming broadcastchains.
 17. The improved automated media delivery system of claim 15,wherein: the first broadcast chain is a streaming broadcast chain andthe second broadcast chain is an on-air broadcast chain.
 18. Theimproved automated media delivery system of claim 15, further including:a media distribution server configured to transmit the replacement mediaitems in response to a request from a media outlet including the secondbroadcast chain.
 19. The improved automated media delivery system ofclaim 15, wherein the media proposal server is further configured to:determine that an originally scheduled media item broadcast via both thefirst broadcast chain and the second broadcast chain is to be replacedwith a first replacement media item on the first broadcast chain and asecond replacement media item on the second broadcast chain, wherein thedetermining is based on the streaming performance feedback originatingfrom the streaming media player with the identifying informationstripped out.
 20. The improved automated media delivery system of claim15, wherein the analytics module is further configured to: receiveover-air performance feedback originating from users receiving mediabroadcast via an over-air broadcast chain; and separate the over-airperformance feedback from the streaming performance feedback.